White House Ballroom secret donor list: Check who are in the list and who can be donors?

Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom has been in the news and now the donor list for the project is out. iPhone makers Apple, AI giant Nvidia have committed $25 million for the USA President's dream project. The list has been published by Washington Post report on Thursday that showed $333 million in private donations for the project.

The ballroom, which Trump has said will seat 1,000 guests, has faced public backlash. Preservationists and opponents say Trump exceeded his authority by demolishing the historic East Wing, which housed the first lady's offices and the White House movie theater, to make room for the structure.

Trump said a planned 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom will include bomb shelters, medical facilities, defenses against drones and missiles and other security features. Confronted with criticism of the project, his administration now says the facility is needed for national security, an argument the president has also made about a proposed triumphal arch.


White House Ballroom Donor List

The Adelson family, longtime financial supporters of Trump and his Republican Party, committed $25 million as well, as did billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network, the report added.

The president himself is not on the list, according to the Post.

The White House said it would not release information about the donors, which spokesman Davis Ingle said "represent a wide array of great American companies."

Nvidia reportedly said it was proud to make a donation to a nonpartisan trust that serves Americans. "As an American company, our support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests," a spokesperson said.

Who can be donors for White House Ballroom?

The scale of the ballroom project and the administration’s handling of fundraising and disclosures have drawn criticism from watchdog groups and legal experts, who say it raises questions about transparency, donor influence and adherence to longstanding ethics and oversight norms.

Trump initially said he and wealthy donors would pay for the estimated $400 million project, but he ​later unsuccessfully sought $1 billion from Congress for an underground bunker and security features to harden the facility.

The planned ballroom is among several projects Trump is pursuing in his efforts to remake Washington with sweeping, unilateral changes that his opponents have challenged in court and called a power grab.

The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling in August, allowed Trump to continue construction of the ballroom while he challenges a judicial order that would halt much of the development. In a dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts said the project was "likely unlawful."