What's in the contract for the White House ballroom? Not the donors – USA Today

WASHINGTON – The contract governing President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project keeps the names of donors secret and excludes a review for conflicts of interest, according to court records.
The 14-page agreement between the National Park Service and executive residence at the White House was signed less than two weeks before the unannounced demolition of the East Wing. But it remained confidential until the advocacy group Public Citizen sued in federal court to have it released.
“The Trump Administration’s failure to disclose this contract was flatly unlawful,” said Wendy Liu, Public Citizen’s lead attorney on the lawsuit. “The American people are entitled to transparency over this multi-million-dollar project, and this win gets us a bit closer to knowing the truth.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has ordered a halt to construction until the Trump administration gets “express authorization from Congress.” Leon exempted “actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds.”
Trump has argued that neither Congress nor the courts should interfere with the project because it is being privately funded. The National Capital Planning Commission, headed by Trump appointees, approved the project.
The agreement calls for preserving “the anonymity and privacy of any donor who wishes to remain anonymous, to the maximum extent practicable consistent with law.”
The agreement also provides that the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit philanthropy for the National Park Service, can keep a 2.5% administrative fee on the first $200 million in donations raised for the project. The trust keeps 2% of any additional donations.
The agreement directs the trust to review donations larger than $25,000 “for an actual conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest” with the National Park Service. Donations from businesses seeking concession contracts with the park service must be approved in writing by the service’s director.
Jon Golinger, a Public Citizen democracy advocate, said the group will continue posing questions about the project.
“This document reveals that anonymous donations are the heart of this agreement,” Golinger said. “The questions this raises are, of the hundreds of millions being funneled in secret, who are these anonymous donors, and what are they hiding? The American people deserve answers, and we’ll keep fighting until they get them.”
Dozens of big-name contributors have been released, including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, T-Mobile and Palantir Technologies. Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, said critics would complain if the project were funded by taxpayers.
“The same critics who are alleging fake conflicts of interests, would also complain if American taxpayers were footing the bill for these long-overdue renovations,” Ingle said. “The donors for the White House ballroom project represent a wide array of great American companies and generous individuals, all of whom are contributing to make the People’s House better for generations to come.”
The contract was signed Oct. 7 by Jessica Bowron, comptroller for the National Park Service; Joshua Fisher, director of the White House office of administration and Catherine Townsend, CEO of the Trust for the National Mall.
The agreement sets its priorities for the project as modernizing the East Wing and constructing a state ballroom for official functions.
“The Comprehensive Design Plan for the White House and President’s Park (2000) identified the need for expanded event space to address growing visitor demand and provide a venue suitable for significant events,” the agreement said. “Successive administrations have recognized this need as an ongoing priority.”

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