Big Tech companies pay for Trump’s White House room

While the US government remains in limbo during the shutdown, the White House grounds were crowded this week. Construction workers have begun demolishing the East Wing of the White House, which will be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that is expected to accommodate up to 1,000 guests.

Taxpayers are not funding President Donald Trump’s $250 million project. Instead, he is using private donations to build his lavish addition to the White House.

The White House released a list of the project’s financiers on Thursday, which includes some of the most influential US technology companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft, as well as defense companies such as Palantir and Lockheed Martin and telecom providers such as Comcast and T-Mobile. The cryptocurrency industry is also represented among donors in the White House halls, with money coming from Coinbase, Ripple, Tether America and the Winklevoss twins.

It is not clear how much each donor 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 riots on January 6, 2021. TechCrunch asked Google whether the settlement money represents the full extent of the company’s contributions, but has not yet received an answer.

Silicon Valley’s relationship with Trump has changed significantly. While much of the tech industry initially resisted Trump when he first became president in 2016, it has warmed to Trump during his second term. Meta, for example, did not donate to Trump’s first inauguration fund, but she did contribute $1 million to the president’s second inauguration; Amazon donated $58,000 the first time, but made a larger donation of $1 million this time.

These donations reflect a greater alignment between Trump and the tech industry.

The industry could be more willing to cooperate with the current Trump administration as several major technology companies face antitrust lawsuits. The Trump administration has been less aggressive in antitrust enforcement than former President Joe Biden’s FTC was under former FTC Chair Lena Khan.

Trump has also taken a more aggressive approach to developing artificial intelligence than his predecessor, which is a financial boon for the companies that make that technology. In his AI action plan, unveiled in July, Trump and his administration set a goal of cutting red tape and using government funds to support the construction of data centers.