Shocking Exposé: Trump’s Inaugural Committee a Hotbed of Special Interest Money!

With the presidential inauguration just days away, a watchdog organization released findings on Tuesday that illuminate the substantial corporate backing for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration efforts. These revelations come as various businesses and high-profile executives aim to gain favor with the incoming government.

Public Citizen’s latest analysis features a tool that documents the corporate contributions made or promised to Trump’s inaugural committee. This committee benefits from tax-exempt status and faces no legal limits on the size of the contributions it can accept.

Notable donors to the fund include Amazon, Apple, Chevron, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Google, Meta, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the pharmaceutical industry’s leading lobby, Pfizer, Microsoft, and Coinbase. These contributions have propelled the inaugural fund to collect an unprecedented $150 million since Election Day, with projections suggesting the total might exceed $200 million by January 20.

Public Citizen reports that these substantial donations originate from a narrow segment of extremely wealthy entities across sectors such as Big Tech, cryptocurrency, and government contracting. Many of these donors, who previously criticized Trump following the January 6 Insurrection, now appear motivated by fear of retaliation from a president known for holding grudges.

Moreover, several contributors to the fund are currently under federal investigation, raising concerns that their donations are attempts to secure favorable outcomes from the forthcoming administration.

“The overwhelming influx of special interest funding into the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee is alarming and raises significant concerns about the potential for corporations and affluent groups to buy influence over public policies or secure profitable government contracts,” said Craig Holman, a government ethics specialist at Public Citizen, in a statement on Tuesday. “The egregious excesses of the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, Inc. underscore the urgent need for legislative action to curb such influence peddling.”

“The risk of corruption is ever-present when an officeholder receives large contributions from entities with pending business before the government.”

The fundraising total for Trump’s 2025 inauguration has already surpassed the previous record of $107 million set in 2017, as reported by The New York Times earlier this month. Additionally, the Times disclosed that Harold G. Hamm, a billionaire oil and gas mogul who significantly supported Trump’s campaign and stands to benefit from his energy policies, is organizing an exclusive event for the fossil fuel industry on Inauguration Day.

Guests at Mr. Hamm’s event are set to include Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee for the Secretary of the Interior, as per the newspaper’s report.

The president-elect has openly declared that top corporate leaders, from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, are rallying behind his second term, which promises to feature numerous billionaires and individuals with substantial business interests. There are also reports that Trump is closely monitoring which major corporations have not yet contributed to his inauguration fund.

On Tuesday, Public Citizen remarked that while the tradition of self-serving inaugural donations is longstanding, the scale and apparent fear of retribution among donors to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee represent a disturbing trend.

“The game is all about buying access to the president and his inner circle,” the organization states in its recent report. “For corporations and wealthy special interests seeking to influence public policy or gain lucrative government contracts, large donations to Trump’s inaugural committee—or any presidential inaugural committee—offer unprecedented opportunities to sway government officials and shape public policy. This level of influence peddling is exclusive to those who can afford it and is inaccessible to the less affluent.”

To combat undue influence through inaugural donations, Public Citizen has urged Congress to enact laws banning corporate and lobbyist donations to inaugural funds, setting contribution caps, and enhancing transparency requirements.

“Corruption is a potential risk whenever an officeholder accepts substantial donations from parties with interests pending before them,” Public Citizen concluded. “Congress must eliminate the double standards in presidential inauguration fundraising. Celebrating an electoral victory should be an integral part of our process for choosing a president.”