Trump Enemy Warns White House Is Cashing in on Ballroom Plan
Democrats are demanding answers on whether the president is engaging in a pay for play scheme with his ballroom.
Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast
Senate Democrats have raised concerns that President Donald Trump is selling access as they ramp up pressure on the White House to get answers on his $300 ballroom.
A group of lawmakers led by California Senator Adam Schiff, one of Trump’s biggest foes, sent a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Tuesday.
It comes after the president sparked widespread outrage last week for tearing down the entire East Wing of the White House to make room for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom with zero oversight.
Private donors and the president are funding the project after Trump initially said he would pay for it. Since it was announced over the summer, the price tag has continued to balloon from $200 million to $350 million.
President Trump showing off mock-ups of what he says his ballroom will look like as lawmakers raise concerns about the lack of transparency around who is funding it.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
However, besides releasing a list of 37 donors, the White House has not said how much each is chipping in or revealed the circumstances surrounding their donations.
“We write to express serious concerns regarding President Trump’s financing of the new White House ballroom construction project through private donations from individuals and corporations whose business interests are deeply impacted by the Administration and its decisions,” the senators wrote.
The Democrats warn the list of donors released by the administration “has raised troubling questions about the potential for influence peddling and other forms of corruption.”
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Among the list of 37 donors are tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta. Others include Altria Group, Coinbase, Lockheed Martin, Palantir Technologies, and T-Mobile. Among the individual donors are Stefan Brodie, Harold Hamm, Benjamin Leon Jr., Konstantin Sokolov, Stephen Schwarzman, and the crypto-bro twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The East Wing of the White House was completely demolished to make way for President Trump's ballroom despite the president previously insisting the construction would not interfere.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Democratic senators have requested a complete accounting of all donations for the ballroom, including the conditions under which they were made, to assess possible conflicts of interest and illegal activity.
“The opaque nature of this scheme reinforces concern that President Trump is again selling presidential access to individuals or entities, including foreign nationals and corporate actors, with vested interests in federal action, often while personally enriching himself and his family,” the senators wrote.
Images capture demolition crews tearing down the East Wing of the White House.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
They noted that many of the ballroom donors listed have “frequent business before the federal government in the form of contracts, pending regulatory approvals, litigation, and enforcement actions.”
The lawmakers also claimed some corporations were recently awarded federal contracts and warned that the circumstances “risk blatant corruption” as companies seek to position themselves favorably with the government.
The senators are seeking information on how much each entity is donating and the circumstances under which the contributions were made. They also want to know which of the contributors have contracts with or bids for contracts with the federal government as well as any pending regulatory approvals.
They’ve also raised questions regarding who has been advising the president on accepting donations, whether the administration sought ethics guidance, and any guardrails being put in place to ensure donors do not receive unfair access to Trump.
The twelve senators are seeking information by November 5, but it appears unlikely the Trump administration will meet their deadline.
The White House responded to a Daily Beast inquiry by slamming Democrats as the government shutdown continues while insisting the project is no expense to taxpayers.
“Democrats are more concerned with President Trump’s historic beautification of the White House than they are for American citizens they are hurting because of their reckless government shutdown,” said spokesman Davis Ingle in a statement.
He argued Trump is working 24/7 while making the White House “even more beautiful.”
The letter from Senate Democrats is the latest in a series of inquiries by Democrats seeking answers.
Last week, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee also wrote a letter to the president raising concerns about the lack of transparency with the ballroom and demanding all communications and documents related to the ballroom.
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