Presidents have always raised private money — for campaigns, inaugural balls, and their libraries. But according to a new Wall Street Journal investigation published July 15, President Trump has turned his second term into something we've never seen before: a fundraising blitz that has pulled in more than $781 million and stashed it in a sprawling network of nonprofits, committees, and cultural institutions that he and his allies control.

Trump can't run for president again. So why is he raising money at a scale no sitting president ever has? The Journal's answer is uncomfortable: because companies that want government contracts and friendly policies keep writing checks, and because most of these funds don't have to tell you who's paying or where the money goes.

Where the money is going

The Journal documented $781,948,878 in donations and payments to Trump-linked groups since the 2024 election — and says the real number is almost certainly higher, because many of these groups keep their donors secret. The pots include:

• MAGA Inc. — a super PAC that has raised over $390 million and was sitting on $382 million in cash as of May 31.
• The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee — which set a record with over $241 million, far more than an inauguration costs.
• The Trump Presidential Library Foundation — at least $103 million for a Florida library expected to include a glass tower with Trump's name and a for-profit hotel.
• The Trust for the National Mall — at least $34.5 million, now being used to pay for a $400 million White House ballroom.
• Freedom 250, the Kennedy Center, and a new "National Garden of American Heroes" fund — millions more, much of it undisclosed.

That's not campaign money. Trump is term-limited. It's money that buys access, rewards loyalty, and — as we'll see — often comes from the exact companies with business in front of his administration.

The donors want something back

Here's the pattern that should bother every voter, no matter your party. Over and over, the biggest checks come from companies that have something on the line with the federal government.

• Reynolds American, one of the biggest tobacco companies, gave $8 million to MAGA Inc. — including a $5 million donation right before Trump moved to lift restrictions on certain flavored vaping products.
• Foris Dax, the parent company of Crypto.com, gave $35 million to MAGA Inc. while pushing for legislation on how cryptocurrencies get regulated.
• Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, and his wife gave $25 million to MAGA Inc. — money that lined up with the administration adopting an industry-friendly approach to AI.

You don't have to prove a secret handshake to see the problem. When the people writing eight-figure checks are the same people asking for favorable rules and lucrative contracts, the public deserves to know about it. Instead, a lot of this is hidden by design.

"Pay-to-play" on the White House lawn

The clearest example is Trump's new $400 million ballroom. To build it, his team tore down the White House East Wing and started collecting private donations through the Trust for the National Mall. Many of the donors — Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, Amazon — are major government contractors who were invited to a private dinner with Trump in October 2025.

The watchdog group Public Citizen dug into who those ballroom donors are. Its findings are stunning: 14 of the 27 known corporate donors received new or increased government contracts totaling more than $50 billion in just six months after the East Wing came down. Most of them — 16 of 27 — are also facing federal enforcement actions or have had those actions suspended by the Trump administration. Public Citizen called it a "pay-to-play loyalty program," and it's hard to argue with the label when the numbers line up that neatly.

Turning lawsuit settlements into personal donations

Then there's how Trump has funded his presidential library. Three of its biggest donors — ABC, Meta, and Paramount — didn't just cut checks. They routed money to a foundation Trump's family controls as part of legal settlements with Trump himself. ABC agreed to pay $15 million and Paramount $16 million, structured as charitable contributions to the library rather than paid to the U.S. Treasury or a neutral charity.

That means companies that got sued by Trump could settle by paying into a fund that benefits Trump — and possibly write it off on their taxes. And where did that money go? Congressional Democrats say as much as $21.5 million is missing or unexplained, after the original library fund was quietly dissolved in Florida. Watchdogs looking at the whole library operation put it bluntly to CBS News: when it comes to presidential library fundraising, "there are no rules."

Even the Kennedy Center got pulled in

Trump also fired the entire board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named himself chairman, and started raising renovation money — pledging to bring in $150 million from private donors. Defense contractor RTX and Booz Allen Hamilton chipped in. So did Trevor Milton, who sponsored a lounge through his company months after Trump pardoned him.

That effort hit a wall in May 2026, when a federal judge ruled that Trump's name had to be removed from the building, writing that "only Congress can change" the name Congress gave it. Trump's response? He said he wants Congress to take over the center entirely.

Why this matters for the rest of us

It's easy to file this under "rich people and politics" and move on. Don't. This is the machine that funds the ads, the endorsements, and the primary threats aimed at any Republican who steps out of line. MAGA Inc.'s $382 million war chest exists to reward loyalty and punish dissent heading into the 2026 midterms. That's exactly why so many of the Republicans on this site vote with Trump every single time, hold no town halls, and never cross him — the money that keeps them in office runs through funds he controls.

And it's your government being sold access. When tobacco, crypto, AI, and defense giants can pour tens of millions into secret funds while asking for contracts and friendly rules, the ordinary voter — the one who can't buy a seat at the October dinner — gets pushed to the back of the line. The whole point of disclosure laws is so we can see who's buying influence. Trump's money network is built to keep us from seeing it.

We deserve to know who's paying, and what they're getting for it. Right now, by design, we mostly can't. We deserve better.

Source

Read the full investigation, "We Tracked Over $780 Million in Fundraising for Trump's Presidency," at The Wall Street Journal (Marianne LeVine and Maggie Severns, July 15, 2026). Photo via WSJ / AP.