Tech giants, defense contractors, and billionaires are among those funding the 90,000-square-foot addition to the East Wing.
The Trump administration has released a list of the private donors contributing funds to the new ballroom being constructed on the White House grounds, which is expected to cost around $300 million.
A plan to build the 90,000-square-foot ballroom was announced on July 31, and construction was officially underway in September.
In the announcement, President Donald Trump said that the project would not use taxpayer funds, and that he and other private donors would bankroll the building.
According to a list provided by the White House to The Epoch Times, donors include Amazon, Apple, Google, Caterpillar Inc., HP Inc., Lockheed Martin, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time the building was announced that for more than 100 years, staff and occupants have “longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests than currently allowed.”
A briefing from the administration cited the constraints of the current event facilities at the White House, saying that presidents are “currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance.”
About $22 million has already been allocated to the construction from the settlement of a 2021 lawsuit Trump brought against YouTube, a subsidiary of Google.
The ballroom will be connected to where the East Wing of the White House currently sits. That wing was constructed in 1902 and then renovated to add a second story in 1942.
More extensive demolition is being done to the East Wing than what was initially anticipated and the president said in comments from the Oval Office on Oct. 22 that “certain areas” of the wing will be left, but that after “a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world,” it was determined that knocking down a large portion of it would be most advantageous.
The White House began the demolition on Oct. 20, and the White House said on Oct. 21 that it would submit plans to the National Capital Planning Commission at a later date.
