Trump administration releases list of donors for White House ballroom
"This is going to be probably the best ballroom ever built - and we're doing it at no cost to the country...," the president said Wednesday.
Heavy machinery tears down a section of the east wing of the White House.
The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a list of 37 private donors - including big businesses and high-profile individuals - funding the ballroom expansion of the White House.
The president has stated that the space is needed to hold larger state dinners and other events currently held in tents. The new hall, more than 8,000 square feet, will seat 1,000 people.
Trump has insisted that the project will not be financed with taxpayer money, but with private funds from "generous patriots and magnificent companies."
On Wednesday, the president put the cost of the renovation at $300 million, raising it from the $200 million cited by the White House a few days ago.
"This is going to be probably the best ballroom ever built - and we're doing it at no cost to the country.... to do it properly, we had to tear down the existing structure," the president told reporters Wednesday while meeting with the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, at the White House.
Who is funding the project?
The list of companies and individuals who, according to the White House, have contributed to the ballroom's expenses is as follows: Altria Group, Amazon, Apple, Booz Allen Hamilton, Caterpillar, Coinbase, Comcast Corporation, J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul, Hard Rock International, Google, HP, Lockheed Martin, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Microsoft NextEra Energy, Palantir Technologies, Ripple, Reynolds American, T-Mobile, Tether America, Union Pacific Railroad, Adelson Family Foundation, Stefan E. Brodie, Betty Wold Johnson Foundation, Charles and Marissa Cascarilla, Edward and Shari Glazer, Harold Hamm, Benjamin Leon Jr, The Lutnick Family, The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Konstantin Sokolov, Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher, Paolo Tiramani, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.
"The chairman has been incredibly transparent"
The redesign has raised questions because of what critics have denounced as a lack of transparency and complained that there was no advance notice or consultation.
"The president has been incredibly transparent when it comes to this ballroom project.... When this plan was presented, and when these renderings were completed, the President asked me to come here and share them with all of you," said the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Thursday during a press briefing.
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