Amazon admitted it had been in contact with donors months before the White House released its list of donors in October. The Trump administration approached Microsoft about its donation to fund the $300 million White House ballroom, documents released by the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reveal.
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In response to a Democratic-led letter questioning the involvement of major tech companies in the construction of the ballroom, Microsoft legal counsel Karen Christianwrites that the company “was approached by a funder of the effort regarding a potential donation” about two months after President Donald Trump announced plans to replace the East Wing of the White House with a privately funded ballroom.
“At that time, Microsoft received information about managing contributions for this project from the Trust for the National Mall as a partner of the National Park Service, instructions on how to donate, and an invitation to attend a dinner hosted for supporters of the project, which Microsoft attended,” says Christian.
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In another letter, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, Brian Huisman, also admitted that the e-commerce giant “has been communicating with the funding team working on the project since August 2025.” Huisman added that Amazon “did not review any construction plans or enter into any agreement related to the donation.”
Meanwhile, Comcast says the company "promised an unrestricted donation to the Trust for the National Mall," without "specific restrictions or conditions on how the proceeds would be used or spent." It also says it "made the donation without expectation of receiving anything in return." Letters from other companies, including Meta, Nvidia, and Apple, didn't reveal much about the donation process.
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Apple's head of government affairs, Tim Powderly, for example, writes that the donation was "handled ethically, honestly, and in full compliance with the law."
