WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is accepting anonymous donations for the grand ballroom he is currently having built at the White House, an aide told NBC News on Friday.
While the Trump administration has released a list of donors for the project that has become a fixation for the president (which includes NBCUniversal’s parent company, Comcast), the aide said that some may contribute anonymously.
“We will, and have so far, released names of donors and companies who wish to be named publicly. Donors also have the option to remain anonymous and we will honor that if that’s what they choose,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the undertaking.
The White House would not commit to publicly releasing the amount of money each donor gives to the project, with the aide saying similarly that the administration “will honor the wishes of the donors of what they want publicly shared.”
But asked if the administration would accept foreign donations for the ballroom, the aide answered flatly: “No.”
“We are not accepting or even entertaining any contributions from foreign sources,” the aide added.
The revelation of potential anonymous donations raises questions about who may seek favor with the president in donating to the ballroom, which he has said will cost about $300 million and be paid for entirely with private donations.
Asked if the White House was finished fundraising, the aide said: “We are almost at $350 million in pledges so far due to generous and great American Patriots.”
Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration and now a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said that the Trump administration may legally withhold names of ballroom donors. But he said the practice is still “problematic.”
“You won’t know” who donated to the ballroom, Painter said in an interview. “I won’t know. The public won’t know. But the president and other people in positions of power almost certainly will know who gave the money.”
That’s troubling, he said, “because people are giving this money with the expectation of something in return.”
The amount of at least one donation has been made public so far. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, said in a court filing that it was giving $22 million to the project as part of a settlement for removing Trump from YouTube after the Jan. 6 attack.
Donations to the project are being made through the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Charities under that designation are not required to publicly disclose their donors, although they are required to disclose the amount of the donations.
501(c)(3)s are also permitted to accept money from both corporations and individuals, bypassing some of the restrictions on certain political committees. Contributions are also typically tax-deductible, making them an even more attractive kind of group to potential donors
A demolition crew finished tearing down the East Wing on Thursday to make room for the new ballroom, leaving behind debris and wreckage that will be cleared but has caught national attention. That portion of the White House was renovated and expanded in 1942 and had typically been used to house the office of the first lady and her staff.
Trump is not the first president to make changes to the White House building, as his administration has noted. Harry Truman refinished the building and added a balcony in 1948 that now bears his name.
Responding to reports that Trump is likely to follow suit with the “President Donald J. Trump Ballroom,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said that “any announcement made on the name of the ballroom will come directly from President Trump himself, and not through anonymous and unnamed sources.”
A former New York real estate developer, Trump has called the ballroom his “gift to the country,” and told NBC News this summer that he draws “enjoyment” from renovating and decorating the White House.
