With a reported $250 million expected to pour into Donald Trump’s inauguration coffers, questions are mounting about how the record-breaking haul will be used. Tech billionaires and business executives are among those contributing substantial amounts to the fund, which far exceeds the necessary costs for the event.
According to Politico, much of the excess money will be left to the discretion of the president-elect, sparking concerns about transparency and potential misuse. The U.S. government has already funded many aspects of the inaugural activities, making the staggering amount of private contributions particularly noteworthy.
Critics worry that the surplus funds might be used for purposes unrelated to the inauguration. As Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen put it, “Is it going to go to Trump’s businesses? To Trump’s Super PAC? We don’t know and Trump never has to tell us.”
Adding to these concerns is the timeline for disclosure. Trump’s team has 90 days to release the names of donors, but there is no requirement to detail how the funds are spent. This lack of accountability has drawn comparisons to Trump’s transition process, which became the first in modern history to forgo public funding and its accompanying restrictions.
Though Trump’s transition team promised in November to disclose its private donors, no information has been released, and no legal mechanism exists to enforce the pledge. Critics also point to the potential for undue influence.
One anonymous healthcare lobbyist admitted, “Everyone’s trying to kiss the ring and curry favor with the new administration. We’re hopeful this new administration will be friendlier than the previous one.” A former member of President Joe Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee highlighted the misconceptions around private contributions, noting, “So much of the inaugural resources are public dollars.
So if people think that [Meta CEO Mark] Zuckerberg’s million dollars are going to go to something like the swearing-in ceremony, that’s just not true.” The influx of cash has also raised alarms about the potential for bribery. While it’s common for corporate donors to seek favor with a new administration, the sheer scale of the funds involved has amplified these concerns.
As Politico reports, even the limited transparency required for inaugural fundraising far exceeds what’s expected from Trump’s transition team. Without legal requirements to disclose funders or expenditures, the public may never fully know where the money ends up.
