Senate Democrats demand list of donors to $300m Trump ballroom | Donald Trump

Senate Democrats, led by Adam Schiff of California, are calling for full disclosure on how Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom is being financed.

The effort follows the release of a donor list showing that wealthy individuals and corporations, many with business before the federal government, have contributed to the project. Democrats argue that without transparency, the financing of the ballroom could become a channel for improper influence within the administration.

Major companies in the tech, defense and crypto industries are helping Trump fund his $300m ballroom, for which the entire East Wing of the White House has recently been demolished. The list of donors includes tech companies Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google; the defense contractors Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Palantir; and the communication companies T-Mobile and Comcast.

Billionaire Trump supporters who were major donors to his campaign last year are also featured on the list.

In a letter sent to the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Schiff and his colleagues warned that the Trump administration’s approach “raises troubling questions about the potential for influence peddling and other forms of corruption”.

“To assess possible conflicts of interest and violations of law and ethics obligations, Congress and the American public deserve meaningful transparency. We, therefore, request a complete accounting of all donations to the White House ballroom construction project, including the conditions under which contributions were made,” wrote the senators.

The senators are seeking a detailed breakdown of donations, including amounts and dates and whether donors have ties to federal contracts, regulatory approvals or litigation involving the government. They also want to know if the administration sought ethics guidance before accepting private funding and what safeguards, if any, exist to prevent donors from gaining special access to the president.

“Among these donors are corporations recently awarded federal contracts worth millions of dollars in revenue, many with close ties to administration officials. These circumstances risk blatant corruption as these companies and their stakeholders seek to position themselves in the government’s good graces,” the letter continued.

The letter, signed by senators including Alex Padilla, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Van Hollen, Tammy Duckworth, Jon Ossoff, Bernie Sanders and others, requests that the White House provide the information by 5 November.

The specific items sought include a full list of all donors, individual and corporate, including contributions to the Trust for the National Mall or indirect channels, and details of any terms tied to donations.

The letter also requests identification of donors with federal contracts, regulatory matters or pending litigation; correspondence between Trump or administration officials and donors referencing the ballroom project; and records of any ethics advice or approvals related to the solicitation or acceptance of private donations.