Who is paying for Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom?

As construction begins on President Donald Trump’s $250 million (£149 million) White House ballroom, mystery continues to swirl around the identities of the wealthy donors and corporations paying for it.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the showpiece 90,000 sq ft (8,360 sq m) project began Monday as excavators and construction workers dismantled parts of the East Wing.

The US president has said he will personally pay for a significant portion of the construction and suggested some anonymous donors would be willing to spend more than $20 million to complete the project.

The funding model has raised concerns among some legal experts, who say it could mean paying for access to administration.

“I see this huge ballroom as an ethical nightmare,” Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer in the Bush White House from 2005 to 2007, told the BBC.

“Using access to the White House to raise money. I don’t like it,” he added. “These companies all want something from the government.”

Senior executives of leading American companies such as Blackstone, OpenAI, Microsoft, Coinbase, Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Amazon and Google attended the dinner held at the White House on October 15 for potential donors.

Also there was Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets NFL team, and Shari and Edward Glazer, who, along with his siblings, own both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United.

A pledge form reviewed by the BBC’s US partner CBS News suggested donors could be eligible for “recognition” for their contributions. While plans are still being finalized, this recognition could potentially take the form of a name etched into the structure.

The White House initially said the massive structure would have a seating capacity of 650 people. This week Trump said he could hold 999.

Only one participant has been announced so far.

Court documents show YouTube will pay $22 million for the project as part of a settlement with Trump over a lawsuit filed over the suspension of his account following the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

But it’s unclear how many of the participants pledged to donate or how much. Although White House officials have said they plan to release the list, an official list has not yet been released.

Documents obtained by CBS show the donations will be made by the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit organization that works with the National Park Service and collects donations for projects at the Mall and the White House.

At the event for potential donors, Trump said most attendees were “really, very generous” and some asked if $25 million was an appropriate donation.

“I said: I’ll take it,” Trump said.

The White House insisted there was nothing improper about the fundraiser and that the ballroom would be used by future administrations.

But Mr. Painter suggested it could be considered a “pay-to-play scheme” that has dogged previous White House administrations of both political parties.

For example, in the 1990s, then-President Bill Clinton came under scrutiny for allegedly selling overnight stays at the Lincoln Bedroom in exchange for campaign contributions.

More recently, Trump sought corporate sponsors for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll in April; Some have said this could mean companies are competing for the president’s attention.

Trump and administration officials have said the new ballroom is a necessary renovation given the lack of large facilities available to hold state dinners and other events. The White House often uses a tent on the South Lawn to host foreign leaders and accommodate a larger guest list for a formal dinner.

But Mr. Painter added that the scale of the new ballroom created a “tremendous temptation” to use the facility for political fundraising, which had not been the case before, even as presidents of both parties had invited their supporters to events.

“limited space 1761068397 “It means not everyone gets an invitation to the White House,” he said. “In my view, that’s a good thing… [current] size limits ‘pay-to-play’ gaming, at least on White House facilities.”

But it is unlikely that any wrongdoing will be proven.

“You can’t prove reciprocity,” Mr. Painter said. “But I think the Trump administration is pushing the envelope here.”