"Everyone wants to kiss the ring": Trump's inauguration gobbles up corporate money and breaks records

The world's five largest technology companies have each donated at least $1 million, directly or through their CEOs, to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural committee.

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Some previous presidents have decided to impose restrictions themselves, but Trump has not, Photo: Rebecca Cook
Some previous presidents have decided to impose restrictions themselves, but Trump has not, Photo: Rebecca Cook
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

First term Donald Trump He found corporate America unprepared in the White House. This time, the industries his administration would soon oversee flooded his inaugural committee with record donations—and in the process ensured that both the president-elect and the public took notice of their generosity.

Companies are not only giving much larger amounts than they did for Trump's first inauguration, when they were unsure how to deal with his unpredictability, but they are doing so in a far more visible way, announcing donations months before they are required to report them to federal regulators.

“The stigma of donating to Trump, which existed to some extent eight years ago, no longer exists. Who knows what will happen in two months? But right now, corporate America is firmly on Trump’s side,” he says. Brajan Ballard, a longtime fundraiser for Trump.

This is a major turnaround from just four years ago, when many companies publicly severed ties with Trump over his role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His subsequent convictions, promises to pardon members of the mob that attacked the Capitol, or to seek revenge against those who prosecuted him, have not dampened the corporate desire to curry favor with Trump.

Now, between Trump's inaugural committee, an allied super PAC and a 501(c)4 group set up to politically support the new administration, which is not required to disclose its donors, Trump allies could raise as much as $250 million, according to Ballard's estimates.

Much of that money comes from the biggest names in the tech, auto, banking, healthcare and oil industries. The five largest tech companies each donated at least $2 million. So did the CEOs of Uber and OpenAI. Auto giants Toyota, Ford and General Motors each gave $XNUMX million, as did pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, telemedicine company Hims & Hers and tax service Intuit. Stock trading app Robinhood donated $XNUMX million.

How much the companies want their donations to be known is also evident from the fact that their spokespersons were quick to confirm the news to Politico, while representatives from Chevron and Bank of America said they had also donated but did not want to disclose the amounts.

Many of these companies have contributed to previous inaugural committees, but this year the checks are significantly larger. For example, Microsoft donated $2017 million, double the amount for 2021 and XNUMX. Google is for Trump's first inauguration and the inauguration of President Joe Biden donated $285.000 each, while now that amount has more than tripled to $XNUMX million.

"Everyone wants to kiss the ring and curry favor with the new administration. We hope this new administration will be more friendly than the last one," said one health care lobbyist, who asked to remain anonymous.

Trump's transition and inaugural committees did not respond to requests for comment.

The corporate money flooding into support for Trump's inauguration is particularly significant given that many of these major companies have either paused their political contributions or promised to reconsider future contributions to members of Congress who, at Trump's urging, voted against confirming the 2020 election results.

However, those donations may be too little and coming too late for some in Trump's circle.

“One of the questions [the incoming administration] will ask when companies request a meeting with one of the agencies is, ‘What was your position on the members who did not vote to confirm the 2020 election?’ If your answer is, ‘Well, we withheld funding,’ they’ll say, ‘Well, we’re not interested in meeting with you,’” one Republican lobbyist said of the incoming administration.

"The staff that will make up the second Trump administration are different types of people, and they owe their victory in no way to corporate America or the people who have traditionally helped elect the president," he argues.

Government watchdogs and veterans of past inaugural committees doubt that Trump's team will be able to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been raised. That's because American citizens bear much of the cost of a president's inauguration, while many inauguration ceremonies and other events are sponsored separately by corporations.

“A large portion of the resources for the inauguration come from public funds,” explained a member of Biden’s presidential inaugural committee, who was not authorized to speak officially, citing as examples the costs of security, federal facilities and the land used for the ceremony.

"So, if people think that a million dollars will Mark Zuckerberg "To go to something like an oath-taking ceremony, that's just not true," he specified.

The inaugural committee is legally required to disclose the names of its donors within 90 days of taking office. However, it is not required to disclose to the public how the money was spent or where any remaining funds were directed.

“Will that money go to Trump’s companies? To his Super PAC? We don’t know, and Trump never has to tell us,” notes Craig Holman, head of government affairs at the watchdog group Public Citizen.

One of the fundraisers for Trump's presidential inaugural committee said the surplus will likely be directed toward Trump's presidential library.

Even this limited transparency about the inauguration fundraiser is far greater than the public is likely to receive from the Trump transition team—the first in modern history to reject public funding and the accompanying restrictions and transparency requirements. Although the Trump transition team promised in late November to disclose its private donors, it has yet to do so, and there is no legal mechanism to force them to do so.

The inaugural committee is required to report to the Federal Election Commission the names of all donors who have given more than $200. However, there is no upper limit on contribution amounts nor a limit on donations from unknown political groups, government contractors, companies under federal investigation, or individuals seeking roles in the incoming administration.

“Inaugural fundraising is an opportunity, regardless of who is in power, for donors with deep pockets to buy influence with the president,” said Congresswoman Mary Scanlon, who this week reintroduced legislation to close ethical loopholes and prevent conflicts of interest in inaugural fundraising.

"In a way, it's even more toxic than regular political donations, because you already know who won, so you're specifically donating to curry favor with someone you know will be in power - it's just an opportunity for corruption," she believes.

Some previous presidents have chosen to impose their own limits. Biden's presidential inaugural committee, for example, rejected donations from registered lobbyists and the oil industry, and set a cap of $1 million per contribution. Former President Barak Obama he went further in 2009, banning all corporate donations for his inauguration.

Trump has not announced any such restrictions.

A group of House and Senate Democrats sent a letter to Trump's inaugural committee this week, demanding information about how it vets its donors to avoid violating the foreign contribution ban. The lawmakers said there was cause for concern, given that Trump's inaugural committee received nearly $2021 million in XNUMX from a Pakistani investor who also lobbied the Trump White House on behalf of Qatar and was later charged with tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent.

However, having lost their majority in the Senate, lawmakers will have little room to maneuver if their letter goes unanswered.

Congresswoman Skenlon She also has little hope that her bill, which would cap donations to inaugural committees at $50.000, ban contributions from Super PACs and corporations, and require a thorough review of how the money is spent, will advance under the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. Still, she hopes that reintroducing the bill will bring public attention to the issue.

"We will continue to push for transparency and try to ensure that people know exactly who is trying to influence the government," Scanlon said.

Translation: S. STRUGAR

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