$82 million Trump donations come back to haunt Apple, Google, Nvidia and Microsoft

Days after winning control of Congress in the midterms, Democrats have picked their first big target: the tech giants that helped pay for President Donald Trump's White House ballroom. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is set to chair the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has asked Apple, Google, Meta, Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft to hand over records on their donations or face possible subpoenas. For now, the request is voluntary. That changes in January, when Democrats take the majority and gain the power to compel documents. Through two years in the minority, they had no such tool, and both the companies and the Trump administration largely ignored their requests. Apple and Nvidia each committed $25 million to the project, according to reports in October, out of $333 million raised in private donations. Google directed $22 million to it from its settlement of Trump's lawsuit over his YouTube suspension. Microsoft put in $10 million, as did federal contractors Lockheed Martin and Palantir.

Big Tech's Trump ballroom donations have been on the Senate's radar for a year

Blumenthal first wrote to the donors in October 2025, soon after the East Wing was torn down to make room for the ballroom. That letter asked each company how much it gave, which administration officials it spoke to about the donation, and what lobbying contacts it had with the White House. The deadline to reply was November 7, 2025, exactly a year ago. His concern hasn't moved since. Many donors, he wrote then, have "deep financial, business, or other personal interests" before the administration. The latest letters also went to Comcast, BlackRock, Cisco, Salesforce, HP, Micron, Caterpillar and Booz Allen, along with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen and former Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter. The tech companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

FCC chief Brendan Carr faces a November 30 deadline to hand over records

Blumenthal's letters did not stop at the tech firms. He also asked FCC Chair Brendan Carr for documents on the agency's probes into media companies and its approval of the Paramount Skydance merger. He criticised Carr's order for an early licence review of eight ABC stations owned by Disney too. Carr has until November 30 to start producing records, or the subcommittee will weigh "alternative measures" once Democrats take over. Over in the House, Representative Robert Garcia, set to chair the Oversight Committee, has named ballroom donors as an area of scrutiny as well. The companies now have until early January to decide whether they hand over the records by choice or wait for a subpoena.