Trump praises East Wing demolition amid ballroom construction project
President Trump commented on the sounds of his latest White House renovation as workers began demolishing part of the East Wing for his new ballroom.
President Donald Trump‘s controversial East Wing ballroom is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and some of the country’s largest tech and crypto companies will be helping to foot the bill.
Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Apple are among a list of donors the White House said is paying for the addition. Others include Coinbase, Ripple and Tether, along with several big-name investors in the tech space, including Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The president has also said he would pitch in on costs, but the White House has not disclosed how much of his own money he would spend on construction. The White House has not responded to inquiries from USA TODAY about the amounts each of the 37 donors would be contributing.
On Oct. 22, Trump appeared to increase the estimated cost of the ballroom by another $50 million from previous estimates, saying the price tag was “about $300 million.” As the price tag has changed, so too has the scope of the project. Initially, Trump said only one wall of the East Wing would be demolished. But his abrupt reversal sparked outrage amid images of a bulldozer knocking down walls. A White House spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY on Oct. 22 that the “entirety” of the East Wing, which traditionally houses the first lady’s offices, would be undergoing “modernization and renovation.”
Other donors on the list include Palantir Technologies and Lockheed Martin, both of which have billions in contracts with the Trump administration, as well as several Trump allies.
White House reveals donor list for $300M East Wing ballroom
The White House named 37 donors, including tech giants and wealthy benefactors and major corporations for the $300M East Wing ballroom project.
Members of the Trump administration, including Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are on the donors list. Lutnick is listed under the “Lutnick Family.”
The Adelson family is also a donor. Trump awarded Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American billionaire and GOP megadonor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.
Here’s the full list of 37 donors released by the White House.
- Altria Group
- Amazon
- Apple
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- Caterpillar
- Coinbase
- Comcast Corporation
- J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
- Hard Rock International
- HP
- Lockheed Martin
- Meta Platforms
- Micron Technology
- Microsoft
- NextEra Energy
- Palantir Technologies
- Ripple
- Reynolds American
- T-Mobile
- Tether America
- Union Pacific Railroad
- Adelson Family Foundation
- Stefan E. Brodie
- Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
- Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
- Edward and Shari Glazer
- Harold Hamm
- Benjamin Leon Jr.
- The Lutnick Family
- The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
- Stephen A. Schwarzmann
- Konstantin Sokolov
- Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
- Paolo Tiramani
- Cameron Winklevoss
- Tyler Winklevoss
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
