Three of D.C.’s Biggest Lobbyists Represent Two-Thirds of the Corporate Donors to Trump’s White House Ballroom
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two-thirds of the corporations known to be funding Trump’s gaudy ballroom project – 17 out of 26 – are clients of Brian Ballard, Jeff Miller, or Reince Priebus’s lobbying firms. Ballard, Miller, and Priebus all attended a White House fundraising dinner for the ballroom project last month, according to news reports, and have helped raise the estimated $300 million to fund the project, according to a new Public Citizen brief called Ballroom Lobby-Blitz Creates New Favor Seeking Opportunities for Lobbyists.
Here are some quick facts from the report:
- Ballard’s lobbying firm represents 11 of the corporate donors to the ballroom project, including two health care companies not disclosed by the White House but later revealed in news reports: Vantive and ExtremityCare. The other corporate donors represented by Ballard: Amazon, Booz Allen Hamilton, Comcast, Hard Rock International, NextEra Energy, Palantir, Reynolds American, Ripple and T-Mobile.
- Miller’s lobbying firm represents 6 of the corporate donors to the ballroom project: Altria, Apple, Comcast, Micron Technology, Palantir and Tether.
- Priebus’ lobbying firm represents 5 of the corporate donors to the ballroom project: Hard Rock International, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Ripple and T-Mobile.
“The bulldozer that demolished the East Wing also opened up a gaping hole that lobbyists are helping their corporate clients pour millions of dollars through into the coffers of the president’s pet ballroom project,” said Jon Golinger, democracy advocate with Public Citizen, who authored the report. “This ballroom lobby-blitz has revealed a giant loophole in the law for potential undue influence and favor-seeking. It must first be exposed and then closed.”
Public Citizen issued a recent report that found most of the corporate ballroom donors have entered into government contracts totaling $279 billion over the last five years and face federal enforcement actions by the Trump Administration.