By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-15 19:26:20 | Updated at 2026-10-16 08:01:45
13 hours ago
Newly obtained records show the full list of deep-pocketed donors who contributed to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including names not previously disclosed, according to a list obtained and published by The Washington Post on Thursday.
WaPo reported that the biggest donors included the pro-Israel oligarch Miriam Adelson, who gave $25 million; tech giants Apple and Nvidia, which each gave $25 million; and Charles Ergen, the co-founder and chairman of Dish Network, who also gave $25 million. Despite pledging that the ballroom would be “paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine,” Trump has not put any money toward the project, according to the outlet. (RELATED: US Political Corruption Rears Its Ugly Head, Slaps Americans Straight Across The Face: Crypto Edition)
In total, private donors gave $333 million, with at least $77 million coming from donors who requested anonymity, WaPo reported.
Other top donors include Google, which gave $22 million via the John P. Coale Esq. Trust of settlement funds from Trump’s YouTube lawsuit; The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Inc., which gave over $20 million; weapons maker Lockheed Martin, which gave $10 million; Microsoft, which also gave $10 million; and AI surveillance firm Palantir, which gave the same amount. Three-quarters of the money came from donors who gave $5 million, WaPo reported.
The full list of donors can be read here.
Previously undisclosed donors reportedly include Joseph Popolo Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, and his wife, who contributed $1 million two months after his confirmation, and Isabela Herrera, the daughter of banker and Venezuelan-Italian billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini.
Isabela Herrera pledged to donate $2.5 million for the project and paid $835,000 in October 2025, WaPo reported. In January, Julio Herrera Velutini, who was indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2022, received a pardon from Trump.
Another previously undisclosed donor is Ergen, whose company, EchoStar, was investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in May 2025. (RELATED: Remember When Republicans Said ‘Drain The Swamp’? So Do We)
After meeting with Trump and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Ergen negotiated a deal to sell some of EchoStar’s licenses to another telecom giant, AT&T, and the investigation was eventually dropped in September 2025. Ergen subsequently made two donations to the ballroom project: a $12.5 million donation in December 2025 and another $12.5 million in February, according to WaPo.
Yet another undisclosed donor is Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, who reportedly committed $1 million in September 2025. Salesforce went on to make two additional $1 million commitments, in December 2025 and on Jan. 29, according to WaPo. Three days before, on Jan. 26, the Department of War awarded Salesforce a contract worth up to $5.6 billion through 2035.
Neoconservative billionaire Paul Singer pledged $5 million in October 2025, according to WaPo. Just one month later, his hedge fund secured court approval to proceed with the acquisition of Citgo, the Venezuelan oil giant, for $5.9 billion.
