Secret Documents Reveal Nvidia, Apple and Dozens More Behind $330 Million for Trump's Ballroom

Nvidia and Apple each pledged $25 million toward President Donald Trump's White House ballroom, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post that put names to more than $330 million in private donations for the project. The two technology companies sit at the top of a donor list that also includes Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, Comcast and T-Mobile.

The Post reported Thursday that the money flowed through a nonprofit trust, and that donors received a pledge form for the "Donald J. Trump Ballroom." The documents showed 67 contributions above $10,000 as of late September. At least $77 million came from donors who asked not to be named, the Post found. Other outlets that reviewed the reporting put the total at about $333 million.

Beyond the two $25 million gifts, Comcast gave $7.5 million, according to the Post's list. T-Mobile and investor Jeff Yass were each listed at $5 million. CNBC confirmed that Nvidia and Cisco made multimillion-dollar commitments, and that Cisco and ServiceNow each gave $5 million. Amazon, Palantir, ServiceNow, Meta and Microsoft also made contributions in the millions, the Post reported. Microsoft and Meta declined to comment.

Nvidia confirmed its donation and defended it. "As an American company, our support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests," a spokesperson told CNBC. "We were proud to be able to make a donation to a nonpartisan trust that serves all Americans and have said so publicly since the donation was made." Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had previously said he personally donated, though the company did not appear on the White House's earlier public donor list.

ServiceNow rejected any link between its gift and its federal work. "ServiceNow's business with the U.S. government is separate and unconnected to any donations we make to any cause," the company said. Amazon, Apple, HP Inc., Micron, Palantir, Salesforce and Vast Space, all named in the Post's report, did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

The disclosure revives questions that lawmakers and ethics experts have raised for months about who is paying for the project and what they may want in return. CNBC noted that tech leaders have largely favored Trump's pro-business, light-touch approach to antitrust and regulation, and that some of the companies have won hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts through AI infrastructure and defense deals during his second term. Zuckerberg and Huang have been regulars at state dinners and White House meetings, and both were central figures at the White House AI luncheon on Sept. 29.

Democracy Now, summarizing the Post's reporting, also pointed to a donation tied to Venezuelan-born banker Julio Herrera Velutini, who was indicted in 2022. According to that account, his daughter pledged $2.5 million for the ballroom, and Trump pardoned him in January, months after the pledge. The Post's list was the only place the pledge appeared in the coverage reviewed, and Planck Standard could not independently confirm the amount.

The ballroom has been a flashpoint since it was announced. The White House first described a roughly $200 million project funded by Trump and donors, and Trump has since said it will cost about $300 million. A federal appeals court halted construction in August, telling Trump he was a "temporary tenant" of the White House, and Senate Republicans earlier balked at adding security money for the East Wing to a spending bill.

The White House has not released the full donor list. Lawmakers have repeatedly asked for the names of private donors, and Thursday's reporting is the first time most of the pledges have been tied to specific companies and dollar amounts.