Trump’s inaugural draws big donors
Ethics experts worry access peddled
WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump strides onto the inaugural ballroom floor this week after his swearing-in as president, he will have corporate America and many of its titans to thank for the festive greeting.
And while the inaugural committee has so far declined to name donors, which it is required by law to do within 90 days after the inauguration, several are known.
Chevron, the oil giant, has given $500,000 for the dayslong festivities. Boeing, which has been a target of Trump, pledged $1 million. And billionaire casino owners Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are said to have donated more than that by themselves. They are far from alone. All told, the group planning the inaugural festivities said it has raised more than $90 million, a record amount for an inauguration. Much of that is coming in six- and seven-figure checks from
America’s corporate suites.
In exchange, Trump’s most prolific donors will gain access to what amounts to a parallel inauguration week, during which they can mingle with members of the incoming administration over intimate meals and witness Trump’s ascension from the front rows.
No matter which party controls the White House, corporations and wealthy individuals open their checkbooks every four years, and administrations reward their donors with private events and other incentives. But ethics experts say Trump’s donors are being given greater access and facing fewer limits on donations than those in other recent inaugurations, despite his vow to “drain the swamp” of special interests in Washington.
“This is nothing short of selling access to the president, the vice president and the Cabinet,” said Craig Holman, a registered lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonpartisan ethics group in Washington. “This is very unfettered, brazen selling of access. It certainly runs counter to any presidential candidate who was talking about draining the swamp.”
For those who have bankrolled the events, inauguration week will look quite a bit different from what it will to Americans viewing it from home or the National Mall. The festivities will begin Tuesday evening with a black-tie “Chairman’s Global Dinner” for Trump’s Cabinet picks, congressional leaders, foreign diplomats and a few top donors.
On Wednesday, events include a lunchtime reception hosted by Reince Priebus, incoming White House chief of staff, and a dinner honoring Vice President-elect Mike Pence, according to a copy of the week’s schedule obtained by The New York Times.
Thursday will feature an- other “leadership luncheon,” a public concert at the Lincoln Memorial featuring artists like Toby Keith and 3 Doors Down, and a candlelight dinner with Trump and his family for about 1,500 in the great hall of Union Station.
Unlike campaigns, inaugural committees face few regulations limiting what they can raise and how they can do it. That has traditionally left it up to each administration to set its own restrictions.
George W. Bush did not place restrictions on who could donate, but he did cap gifts at $100,000 in 2001 and at $250,000 in 2005.
Barack Obama went further in 2009, banning all gifts from lobbyists and corporations, and capping individual gifts at $50,000, even as his fundraising team amassed $53 million, then a record. He relaxed those restrictions in 2013, generally accepting corporate gifts up to $1 million and individual gifts up to $250,000.
Trump’s team said it would not accept gifts from registered federal lobbyists or solicit corporate donations over $1 million. The committee did not cap contributions from individuals.
While Obama and Bush also offered tiered incentive packages, Holman said, the packages offered by Trump’s team appeared to promise greater access than those of the recent past.
The Trump team’s decision against disclosing the names of contributors before the inauguration represents a departure from the president-elect’s Republican and Democratic predecessors.
The 90-day requirement comes from a federal law enacted during the Bush administration. But Bush’s predecessor, former President Bill Clinton, also revealed the names of most of his donors before his swearing-in.
A person familiar with the Trump transition, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the president-elect’s team considered whether to release the names of donors and decided that disclosing all the names early would produce multiple headlines instead of just one when they are required to be released by law.
The funds will cover all nonofficial inaugural programming, though the committee has not detailed exactly how much it plans to spend. A spokesman, Boris Epshteyn, has said any leftover money will be donated to charity.
Some members of the committee rejected the criticism of its fundraising.
“Look, a lot of people are just good American citizens, and they want to support the transfer of power,” said Ray Washburne, a Dallas investor and a member of the committee. “As far as buying influence, I don’t know what kind of influence that can buy.”
PLANNING THE EVENTS
As for the inauguration festivities, committee chief executive Sara Armstrong said that despite media reports of a lack of interest from celebrities and lower attendance for the ceremonies, everything is coming together as she hoped, adding that all the official events are full.
“I’m feeling excitement, but it’s a nervous excitement,” Armstrong said. “There are a lot of logistical items that we have to pull together.”
Armstrong ran last year’s GOP convention and spent a year living in Cleveland to pull it off. For the inauguration, she has 10 weeks; she was hired two days after the election. The GOP convention gave her experience in running what she calls a “national special-security event,” including knowledge of how to work with security, the city and other official entities.
She said Trump has been very involved in the planning and “wants to carry on his theme that resonated with Americans around the country: ‘Make America Great Again.’ We want it to be about America, about the people. There’s been a lot of focus on ‘Do we have a lot of A-listers?’ That wasn’t what our goal was. Our goal was to represent the diversity of the talents of America.”
The official events will begin with a wreath-laying ceremony Thursday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery. Trump and Pence will attend the traditional ceremony with their wives.
The public concert, dubbed “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration,” will take place later that afternoon. In addition to Keith and 3 Doors Down, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Friday that performers will include actor Jon Voight and country singer Lee Greenwood. Broadway singer Jennifer Holliday also had agreed to perform, but she canceled Saturday after receiving criticism from fans.
The Trump family will spend the night before the inaugural at Blair House, also known as the President’s Guest House. They plan to attend a church service Friday morning and have coffee with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama before heading to the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol.