Apple and Nvidia each gave $25 million to Trump's ballroom, donor list obtained by Washington Post
The list shows $333 million in private donations, including at least $77 million from anonymous donors, and Trump's own name does not appear on it.
The donor list
The Washington Post obtained an internal spreadsheet that tracks contributions to the fundraising effort for Donald Trump's White House ballroom. It logs 67 contributions of more than $10,000 each, recording the giver, the date and the sum, with entries current to late September 2026. Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million, the largest amounts on the list. The Adelson family and billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network, are listed at the same level. The list shows $333 million from private donors, a total that matches the administration's public statements, and additional records show that at least $77 million came from donors who asked for anonymity.
- Trump says the project is paid for by him and friends, days after East Wing demolition began
- White House publicly names 37 donors without disclosing individual amounts
- Donation records current to late September, with 67 contributions above $10,000
- Washington Post publishes the donor list
Tech companies and telecom
Apple and Nvidia lead a group of technology firms that The Verge counts among the donors, including Google, which gave $22 million as part of a controversial settlement reached in 2025. Palantir and Microsoft are listed at $10 million each, while Comcast NBCUniversal gave $7.5 million. Amazon, Meta, T-Mobile, Cisco and the crypto exchange Coinbase are each listed at $5 million. MacRumors also names HP, Salesforce and Micron among the donors, without amounts. The two outlets' totals differ in scope: The Verge put Silicon Valley and crypto donations at over $150 million, while Engadget counted more than $183 million from tech, telecom and crypto companies.
- Apple
- 25 $ million
- Nvidia
- 25 $ million
- 22 $ million
- Palantir
- 10 $ million
- Microsoft
- 10 $ million
- Comcast NBCUniversal
- 7.5 $ million
- Amazon
- 5 $ million
- Meta
- 5 $ million
- T-Mobile
- 5 $ million
- Cisco
- 5 $ million
Trump's place in the funding
Trump is not on the list, although he has said he helps pay for the ballroom. Days after demolition of the old East Wing began in 2025, he said:
It's being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine.
The White House publicly identified 37 people, companies and foundations as donors in October 2025 but did not reveal the size of individual gifts. The donations are collected by a nonprofit and then channelled to the government and into a White House account that the president directly controls. Ordinary political giving requires public disclosure and falls under campaign finance rules, while these ballroom gifts flow through a nonprofit. Independent experts and scholars have voiced alarm about possible influence buying and coerced giving.
Cost, taxpayers and the White House response
A June contractor estimate put the ballroom's cost at around $600 million, with more than half of that money from taxpayer funds, according to MacRumors. The final cost has not been released. Trump has said the planned room will cover about 90,000 square feet and seat 1,000 guests, on the site where the East Wing was demolished. A White House spokesperson said the administration would pursue those behind the leak relentlessly. The records show that most funds came from companies and wealthy individuals with interests before the federal government, but they do not establish a connection between the gifts and favorable actions by the administration.
