Trump
|5 min ReadTrump’s New Ballroom: The Billionaires, Corporations, and Crypto Kings Paying the Bill
Carter Hayes
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
As bulldozers tore into the East Wing this week, President Donald Trump called it a beautiful moment. The old walls are coming down. A new, gold-lined ballroom is rising — at “zero cost to the American taxpayer,” as Trump posted on Truth Social.
The price tag is about $300 million. Every cent, Trump said, comes from private donors. A CNN review shows those donors include some of the world’s biggest companies — Google, Amazon, Apple, and Lockheed Martin — plus familiar billionaires, cabinet members, and crypto moguls. The money moves through a nonprofit called the Trust for the National Mall, which makes the donations tax deductible.
Trump has shown off renderings of the ballroom to Oval Office guests for months. He said he will chip in personally, though the White House hasn’t said how much. Google’s $22 million contribution reportedly came as part of a legal settlement over Trump’s YouTube ban in 2021. Last week, many of the donors gathered for dinner in the State Dining Room, celebrating what the president called “a historic private project for a public home.”
Old friends and new allies
Miriam Adelson, the casino billionaire and longtime Trump backer, sits near the top of the donor list. She and her late husband Sheldon gave tens of millions to Trump campaigns and super PACs. Adelson’s foundation focuses on strengthening Israel, and she now owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Trump awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 and often praises her loyalty.
The tobacco industry is represented too. Altria Group, maker of Marlboro and Virginia Slims, donated millions across Trump’s inaugurations and PACs. The company has fought federal regulation of e-cigarettes. So have others. Reynolds American, behind Camel and Newport, has pushed for lighter state rules on flavored tobacco.
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, once clashed with Trump but has turned warmer. He called himself “optimistic” about Trump’s second term and liked his push to cut red tape. Amazon and its cloud arm, AWS, have won more than 1.9 million in cash and services to Trump’s 2025 inaugural.
Apple’s Tim Cook, another former critic turned collaborator, gave 100 billion in U.S. investment. Apple’s iPhones later escaped new import tariffs from India — a big win for the tech giant.
Wall Street, oil, and crypto power
The ballroom money comes from every corner of American industry. Lockheed Martin, the defense titan, called it “an honor to help bring the President’s vision to life.” The company earned over $40 billion from federal contracts last year. Energy billionaire Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources and a major Trump ally, contributed millions. He pushed for deregulation and new drilling rights — and got them.
The crypto crowd showed up in force. Charles Cascarilla of Paxos Trust, Coinbase, Ripple, and the Winklevoss twins all gave heavily. Ripple alone donated nearly 23 million into Trump’s political machine. The Winklevoss brothers, early Bitcoin investors, sent over $3 million, much of it in crypto. They also invested in American Bitcoin, a mining company co-founded by Trump’s sons. Their message is clear: they want deregulation and official embrace of digital assets.
Corporate donors with business before the government also joined in. Booz Allen Hamilton, which earns billions from federal consulting contracts, gave after settling a fraud case. Caterpillar and Union Pacific, both under scrutiny for tax or merger issues, made their own contributions. Each called the project “a patriotic restoration.”
The insiders and the comeback circle
Some donors now hold seats inside the administration. Kelly Loeffler, the former senator and now head of the Small Business Administration, and her husband Jeff Sprecher, who owns the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company, have given more than 9 million and now helps lead Trump’s tariff policy.
Tech giants once seen as adversaries are back in favor. Meta gave 750,000. Meta and Google both won major federal AI contracts this summer. Coincidence or timing, it shows how power now flows through Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom circuit.
Philanthropists joined as well. The Fanjul sugar family, whose companies benefited from Trump lifting import bans, gave more than 23 million. “It’s about restoring pride,” one donor told CNN. “The People’s House should look presidential again.”
A ballroom built on loyalty
Some donors face scrutiny. T-Mobile confirmed its gift but said it only went to the Trust for the National Mall, not directly to the White House. The company recently joined a Trump-backed mobile venture called Trump Mobile, which Democrats call a conflict of interest. Tether, the crypto giant valued near $500 billion, hired a former Trump official to lead U.S. strategy and praised the administration’s “pro-innovation stance.”
Even former rivals are paying up. Google’s $22 million, Apple’s gold statue, Meta’s check, and Bezos’ tone shift all signal the same thing: the ballroom is not just architecture. It’s alignment. Trump has rebuilt the donor class around him — corporations, billionaires, and believers — funding his biggest personal project inside the most famous home in America.
When it opens, he said, “It will be the most beautiful ballroom in the world. Everybody’s going to want to dance there.”
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