Casey Tolan, Majlie de Puy Kamp, Melanie Hicken, Blake Ellis, Isabelle Chapman, Curt Devine, Bob Ortega, Em Steck, CNN
As demolition crews this week bulldozed the White House’s East Wing to replace it with a massive ballroom, President Donald Trump has emphasized that the dramatic changes will come at “zero cost to the American Taxpayer.”
Instead, the donors picking up the tab include some of the country’s biggest corporations, including many who have business before the federal government, along with many longtime supporters of the president, according to a CNN review of a donor list released by the Trump administration.
Trump has been recruiting donors for the construction project for months, showing off renderings and scale models to Oval Office visitors. Now estimated to cost $300 million, the work is being funded by private, tax-deductible donations routed through the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall.
The president has said he will personally pay for some of the project, but the White House hasn’t specified how much. At least one donation of $22 million from Google was made on “behalf” of Trump as part of a legal settlement over the president being banned from YouTube in 2021, court documents show.
The ballroom donors were feted at a White House dinner last week. Now that the demolition has begun, here’s who’s paying for the overhaul of the country’s most famous residence.
Adelson Family Foundation
Miriam Adelson, a billionaire who made her fortune in casinos alongside her late husband Sheldon and has been a major Trump donor, runs this philanthropic foundation. Trump awarded Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.
Altria Group
Previously known as Phillip Morris, tobacco giant Altria Group is the seller of Virginia Slims, Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes in the United States.
Amazon
Amazon billionaire founder Jeff Bezos told the world he was “optimistic” about a second Trump presidency late last year, saying he appreciated his “energy” around reducing regulations. The president called out Amazon publicly earlier this year when he learned that the e-commerce retailer was considering displaying tariff costs for consumers, which the company said it would not do.
Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook served on Trump’s American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during his first term. He attended the president’s 2025 inauguration along with other tech leaders, and this summer presented Trump with a customized 24-karat gold-and-glass statuette in the Oval Office while announcing plans to invest $100 billion in US jobs and suppliers.
Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
The late Betty Wold Johnson was a philanthropist and mother of the two owners of the New York Jets, who are the foundation’s co-presidents. One of her sons, Woody Johnson, served as ambassador to the United Kingdom during Trump’s first term.
Booz Allen Hamilton
A major federal contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton primarily provides technology and consulting services and takes in billions in annual revenue.
Stefan E. Brodie
Stefan Brodie co-founded the chemical manufacturing company Purolite. Brodie, who was found guilty of violating American sanctions on Cuba in the early 2000s, was denied pardon by former President Joe Biden in 2023. It’s unclear if he has petitioned Trump for a pardon.
Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
Charles Cascarilla is the co-founder and CEO of blockchain firm Paxos Trust Company, which provides digital asset infrastructure to financial institutions.
Caterpillar
The Texas-based Caterpillar manufactures construction and mining equipment and supplies it to the US military and other government agencies. During Trump’s first term, the Department of Justice dropped a criminal investigation into Caterpillar for allegedly dodging taxes days after Trump appointed the company’s former attorney, Bill Barr, as attorney general. Barr said he would recuse himself from issues involving Caterpillar or other former clients.
Coinbase
Coinbase, one of America’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was founded in 2012 by CEO Brian Armstrong. The corporation, which went public in 2021 with a valuation of about $100 billion, helps users buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the company in 2023 for allegedly acting as an unregistered broker, but the Trump administration dropped the lawsuit earlier this year. Coinbase had said it was not in violation of any law.
Comcast
One of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies, the conglomerate owns NBCUniversal, which includes film studios such as Universal Pictures and DreamWorks, cable channels such as CNBC and Bravo, as well as Peacock, a streaming platform.
J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
Jose “Pepe” Fanjul and his wife Emilia are part of a Cuban-American family that owns a massive sugar conglomerate. The Biden administration had previously blocked a company partially owned by the Fanjul family from shipping sugar to the US over allegations of forced labor practices, which the company denied. The Trump administration lifted that block in March.
Edward and Shari Glazer
The Glazers are part of the extended family that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a majority share in the English football team Manchester United. Edward Glazer is the co-chairman of the Bucs and oversees real estate acquisitions for the family company, First Allied Corporation, according to Forbes. Shari Glazer is the founder and CEO of Kalos Labs, a consulting agency that advises and strategizes global brands on blockchain technologies, NFTs and cryptocurrency.
Google and its parent company Alphabet have joined Trump administration initiatives to promote AI education, and CEO Sundar Pichai praised the administration’s investments in AI at a White House event last month. Google-owned YouTube agreed to pay $22 million towards Trump’s ballroom project as part of an agreement settling legal claims brought by Trump over his removal from the video platform.
Harold G. Hamm
Harold Hamm is the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, a natural gas and petroleum production company based in Oklahoma City. Considered a pioneer in hydraulic fracking, Hamm is one of the richest oil men in America and among the richest men in the world, according to Forbes.
Hard Rock International
Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and includes a global chain of theme-bar restaurants, casinos, hotels and museums. Hard Rock International in 2017 purchased an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino that was once owned by Trump. It re-opened the following year as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.
HP Inc.
HP Inc. is a multinational information technology company based in Palo Alto, California, primarily producing printers, printing supplies, and personal computers. CEO Enrique Lores attended a White House roundtable in September, according to his LinkedIn.
The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
Isaac Perlmutter sold Marvel Entertainment to The Walt Disney Company in 2009. Perlmutter and his wife, Laura, have supported healthcare and education initiatives through their foundation, including a more than $50 million donation to NYU’s Langone Medical Center earmarked for cancer research.
Benjamin Leon Jr.
Benjamin Leon Jr. is a Cuban-American entrepreneur who founded a chain of healthcare centers in the Miami area. In January, Trump nominated Leon to be US Ambassador to Spain.
Lockheed Martin
The Pentagon’s largest aerospace and defense contractor, Lockheed Martin projects more than $74 billion in sales this year. In a statement about its ballroom donation, a spokesperson for the company said it is “grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House, a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work to defend every day.”
Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
Kelly Loeffler, a Trump cabinet member who leads the Small Business Administration, was previously appointed US senator representing Georgia in 2020 and later lost her seat to Raphael Warnock in a run-off election. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the CEO and founder of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.
The Lutnick Family
Howard Lutnick joined the Trump administration as Secretary of Commerce after decades as CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm. Lutnick handed the reins of the company to his 27-year-old son, and his other son also works at Cantor.
Meta
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once banned President Trump from Facebook and Instagram, and the president once threatened him with criminal investigations. But since the 2024 election, Zuckerberg has taken steps to endear himself to the president and his MAGA supporters. Earlier this year, the social media giant ditched its fact checkers and named Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship president and a Trump ally, to its board. Zuckerberg also dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Micron Technology
A US-based maker of advanced memory chips, Micron Technology was lauded by the White House earlier this year for a $200 billion investment in the United States, including the construction of a new facility in Idaho.
Microsoft
Microsoft has been somewhat quieter than other tech firms about its support of President Trump and his administration. CEO Satya Nadella didn’t sit front row during Trump’s inauguration, unlike Meta’s Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Bezos and Google’s Pichai. Nadella has met with Trump, including attending a tech dinner at the White House last month, shortly before the president called for the company to fire a former Biden official who serves as its chief of global affairs.
NextEra Energy
NextEra Energy is a major producer of solar and wind power. The company was hurt by the elimination of clean energy tax credits in the president’s landmark tax and spending cuts bill. CEO John Ketchum has said he agrees with the administration’s focus on bringing jobs back to America but criticized Trump’s efforts to boost the coal industry.
Palantir
Founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel and several associates, the data analytics firm provides services for several government agencies, including Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Army. Thiel has been a longtime supporter of the Republican Party, a friend of Vice President JD Vance and an early supporter of President Trump.
Reynolds American
One of the country’s largest tobacco manufacturers, Reynolds American’s subsidiaries manufacture cigarette brands including Newport and Camel. The company also sells e-cigarettes.
Ripple
Ripple helped launch XRP, one of five cryptocurrencies Trump has said should be included in a new US crypto strategic reserve. The company’s CEO shared a photo alongside Trump on X earlier this year, saying he had “a great dinner” with the president.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Stephen A. Schwarzman is a GOP megadonor and the co-founder of global investment firm Blackstone. He served as the chairman of a business advisory council during Trump’s first term. Schwarzman announced in 2022 that he would not back Trump for a second term, but reversed course in 2024, citing concern with the rise of antisemitism in the US.
Konstantin Sokolov
Konstantin Sokolov is the founder of a private equity firm focused on tech, finance and infrastructure, a major shareholder in Armenia’s largest telecom company and the chairman of an undersea cable initiative to carry energy and telecommunications between Africa and Europe.
T-Mobile
One of the largest wireless carriers in the country, T-Mobile said in a statement that its donation wasn’t only earmarked for the ballroom. “Ahead of America’s 250th Anniversary, T-Mobile donated to the Trust for the National Mall, which partners with the National Park Service to restore and enrich the historic landmarks that define our nation’s capital, such as the White House ballroom,” the company said. “T-Mobile has no role in the use of those funds or decisions related to the construction of the ballroom.”
Tether
The cryptocurrency company Tether has a multi-billion-dollar valuation and claims to have 500 million users worldwide. The firm, which is headquartered in El Salvador, hired former Trump administration crypto official Bo Hines to lead its US expansion earlier this year.
Paolo Tiramani
An industrial designer, Paolo Tiramani co-founded a modular homes company, BOXABL, with his son. A donor-advised fund created by the company donated $10 million in preferred stock to the Trust for the National Mall, which supports Trump’s ballroom initiative.
Union Pacific Railroad
One of the nation’s largest railroad companies, Union Pacific operates more than 32,000 miles of track in 23 states.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
The Winklevoss twins became some of the first cryptocurrency billionaires after using a multi-million-dollar legal settlement from Mark Zuckerberg to invest in Bitcoin more than a decade ago. The brothers also founded the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and an investment company that focuses on tech and blockchain start-ups.
CNN’s Emily Condon, Rob Kuznia, and Logan Schiciano contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
