While the U.S. government remains in limbo during a shutdown, the White House grounds have been busy this week. Construction workers have begun demolition on the White House’s East Wing, which will be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that’s estimated to hold up to 1,000 guests.
Taxpayers are not funding President Donald Trump’s $250 million project. Rather, he is using private donations to construct his lavish addition to the White House.
The White House released a list of the project’s funders on Thursday, which include some of the most influential American tech companies, like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as defense companies like Palantir and Lockheed Martin and telecom providers like Comcast and T-Mobile. The crypto industry is also represented among the White House ballroom donors, with money coming from Coinbase, Ripple, Tether America, and the Winklevoss twins.
It is not clear how much each donor has contributed to the project. However, at least $20 million from Google is part of a recent lawsuit settlement over YouTube’s suspension of Trump’s account after the January 6, 2021, riots. TechCrunch asked Google if the money from the settlement represents the full extent of the company’s contributions, but has not yet received an answer.
Silicon Valley’s relationship with Trump has changed markedly. While much of the tech industry initially resisted Trump when he became president for the first time in 2016, it has cozied up to Trump during his second term. Meta, for instance, did not donate to Trump’s first inauguration fund, but contributed $1 million to the president’s second inauguration; Amazon donated $58,000 the first time, but made a heftier $1 million donation this time around.
These donations reflect a greater alignment between Trump and the tech industry.
The industry could be more willing to cooperate with Trump’s current administration because many of these major tech companies are facing antitrust litigation. The Trump administration has been much less aggressive in its antitrust enforcement than former President Joe Biden’s FTC was under former FTC Chair Lina Khan.
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Trump has also taken a more aggressive approach to AI development than his predecessor, which is a financial boon for the companies building out that technology. In his AI action plan, which was unveiled in July, Trump and his administration outlined a goal to cut red tape and use government funds to support the construction of data centers.