Leaked Ballroom Donor List Reveals Corporate America Is Simply Very Passionate About Dancing

WASHINGTON — Corporate America loves to dance. That is the only conclusion this reporter can draw from the spreadsheet.

The Washington Post on Thursday published an internal donor list for President Trump’s new White House ballroom. It shows 67 donations of $10,000 or more through the end of September. They total $333 million.

Apple gave $25 million. So did Nvidia. So did the Adelson family, and Charles Ergen, the co-founder of Dish Network. Google gave $22 million, which the Post said came from settling the lawsuit Mr. Trump brought against YouTube.

Microsoft gave $10 million. So did Palantir and Lockheed Martin. Amazon, T-Mobile, Meta, Cisco and ServiceNow gave $5 million apiece. Crypto companies and their investors pledged more than $18 million. Donors who asked to stay anonymous gave $77 million.

Last year the president described the financing himself. “It’s being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine,” he said. The president does not appear on the list. He has a great many friends.

This reporter has covered eleven administrations. He has never seen a defense contractor take up the foxtrot. He would like to note that Lockheed Martin now has $10 million in a dance floor.

The money moves through the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit. From there it goes into a White House account the president controls. The donations are not subject to campaign finance limits. They do not have to be disclosed.

They were not supposed to be disclosed, either. A 12-page agreement requires the Trust to keep donors anonymous where the law allows. It bars public thanks without written permission from the Executive Residence. This is the first ballroom in history with a nondisclosure agreement.

The Post found that about half the money came from companies or executives holding federal contracts during the president’s second term. It did not establish that any donation influenced any decision. This reporter will not establish that either. He will only report the calendar.

A subsidiary of Rocket, the mortgage company, pledged $10 million three weeks after a federal agency approved its purchase of the lender Mr. Cooper. ServiceNow pledged $5 million after the government agreed to buy its software at a discount. Nvidia’s $25 million came about three months after it reached an agreement with the administration to sell advanced chips to China.

Nvidia had asked to remain anonymous. The company told reporters it was proud to give to a nonpartisan trust. It said its support for the country is separate from its business interests. This reporter believes Nvidia simply loves a waltz.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle called the donors “a wide array of great American companies and generous individuals, all of whom are contributing to make the People’s House better for generations to come.”

The White House also criticized the leak and said it would pursue those responsible. This reporter asked who would lead the legal effort. Nobody suggested the press secretary, Katie Zacharia, who confirmed this week that she did not pass the California bar.

The price keeps growing. The White House put the ballroom at $200 million in July 2025. The broader East Wing project, which includes offices and an underground military facility, reached $600 million by March. Taxpayers are covering part of it. Taxpayers were not invited to the dance.

Lorraine Pettibone, 71, has taught ballroom dance in a strip mall outside Silver Spring for 40 years. She read the list twice. “I have never once gotten $25 million from a chip company,” she said. “I got a gift card from a dentist.”

Mrs. Pettibone offered free lessons to any donor who would like to actually learn to dance. As of press time, none had called. A senior official, speaking anonymously because he was embarrassed, said the donors already know the steps.

Deep Throat Lozenge, this reporter’s most trusted source, says the ballroom will open with a grand gala. The guest list is confidential. The seating chart, he says, will look a lot like the spreadsheet.

This reporter’s retirement is now 412 days away. It was 380 on Monday.