CNN
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About 30 of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for his administration have donated to his campaign or to deep-pocketed outside groups that worked to elect him, according to a CNN analysis of federal campaign records. It became clear.
They range from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has emerged as the single largest political donor to the 2024 presidential campaign, to people close to Trump who have been tapped for key roles across the government.
Eight of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, led by billionaire wrestling champion Linda McMahon, who he chose to oversee the Department of Education, have collectively donated more than $37 million from their personal accounts to support Trump. A study has found that the rapidly growing number of ultra-wealthy Americans is now shaping US policy under the incoming second Trump administration.
(Two other Cabinet members, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Florida Rep. Mike Walz, transferred money from their campaign accounts to pro-Trump causes.)
Although Musk has not been elected to a formal cabinet position, he is helping lead new initiatives at the Department of Government Efficiency, offering opinions on the next presidential nominee and speaking with world leaders. He plays a vital role in the presidential transition, meeting with members of Congress at the U.S. Capitol. He is considering how to shrink the federal government.
The SpaceX and Tesla chief executives have donated more than $277 million in total to federal elections this term, with the bulk of that money, more than $262 million, benefiting Mr. Trump. Most of Mr. Musk’s pro-Trump funds went to a super PAC he founded to get voters to vote on behalf of Republicans in key battleground states.
Other than privately funded presidential candidates, no one has donated more to shape a federal campaign in a single election cycle, said Brendan Glavine, research director at OpenSecret, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes political financing. There is no one there.
President Trump’s donors “don’t just have these kind of plum ambassadors on their side,” Glavine said. “Major funders are gaining positions to influence policy.”
CNN’s analysis looked at more than 90 people announced by President Trump to fill senior positions in his administration through Tuesday, five weeks after his election victory. A review of FEC records found that more than 30 of them donated to the Trump campaign or one of the major outside groups affiliated with the president.
“Millions of Americans are disgusted with the failures of the White House and the federal government and have joined President Trump in a movement to restore our country’s greatness. Some of those working with President Trump have supported his campaign and They are among the millions of people who helped the president win a decisive election,” Trump transition team spokesman Brian Hughes said in response to a CNN investigation into donor participation in the party. said in a statement. management.
Total donations from President Trump’s current Cabinet nominees represent a sharp increase since his first term. A review of campaign reports found that five former Cabinet members donated nearly $8 million to committees and major outside groups supporting him.
In the 2016 election, donations from Mr. McMahon, who served as President Trump’s SBA administrator during his first term, accounted for more than 90% of the total.
FEC records show that the amount of money spent to support President Trump in 2024 far exceeds the donations given by President Joe Biden’s cabinet to help him win the White House in 2020.
More than a dozen members of Biden’s cabinet have reported donations to the campaign and major super PACs involved in the 2020 election, totaling less than $100,000 in donations.
Mr. Musk’s spending was far lower than that of other supporters.
Mr. McMahon is the largest donor among President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and the second-most generous donor after Mr. Musk among the members of his administration announced through Tuesday, the survey found.
Most of the $21.2 million she donated went to Make American Great Again, a major Trump-linked super PAC that spent heavily on advertising to support the Trump campaign.
Other seven-figure donors named to Trump’s Cabinet nominations include Cantor Fitzgerald College Secretary Howard Lutnick, whom Trump nominated for Secretary of Commerce. Scott Bessent, the hedge fund executive chosen by President Trump to oversee the Treasury Department. Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has been chosen to head the Small Business Administration.
Loeffler’s husband, Jeff Sprecher, is also a major donor, giving more than $2 million to the pro-Trump MAGA super PAC and Trump’s joint fundraising committee.
Sprecher is CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, and was at Trump’s side when the president-elect rang the exchange’s opening bell on Thursday.
“Senator Loeffler is President Trump’s most prominent figure for the same reason that a historic majority of Americans voted to return her to the White House,” Caitlin O’Dea, Loeffler’s communications director, said in an email. I’m proud to be one of his strongest supporters. He will restore America’s prosperity.” , safety, and opportunity. ”
The billionaire’s embrace marks a turnaround of sorts for Trump, who saw corporate America push back from him after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. . And he sees new support from technology industry leaders who want less federal regulation.
Mr. Musk’s staggering spending in this year’s election helped Mr. Trump close the economic lead left by his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris quickly raised $1 billion after becoming the party’s standard bearer in late July.
Super PACs have no limits on the amount of donations they can receive or spend, but they are technically not allowed to coordinate advertising decisions with the candidates they support.
But the FEC’s decision this year to give the campaign the authority to coordinate with outside political action committees on paid recruitment efforts freed up Mr. Musk to lead Mr. Trump’s ground campaign. .
“The campaign finance system is a joke,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the watchdog group Democracy 21 and a longtime advocate of limiting funding in politics. “Mr. Musk is an example of how campaign finance laws have failed.”
He said he was concerned about a government department led by a billionaire who had no “interest in carrying out the tasks assigned to the agency.”
Musk did not respond to CNN’s inquiries.
But Tom Davis, a former congressman from Virginia who served for several years as chairman of the House Republican campaign arm, said, “It’s natural that people who make a lot of money want to give back through the government.” There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“The fact that they contributed shows some level of loyalty,” he added.
friends and family
Presidents often bestow luxurious appointments on donors and allies, often sending them to glamorous, low-conflict posts in Europe or the Caribbean.
Some of Mr. Trump’s early ambassador picks followed that pattern, including billionaires who donated to his re-election effort. They include Warren Stevens, an Arkansas investor who was nominated to be the U.S. special envoy to the United Kingdom, and Charles Kushner, who was chosen by President Trump to be his ambassador to France. Charles Kushner is one of several relatives and close friends chosen for the diplomatic mission.
Kushner, who donated $2 million to pro-Trump causes and received a presidential pardon at the end of Trump’s first term, is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Ivanka. Another donor, Tom Barrack, who oversaw fundraising for Trump’s first inauguration and was chosen to be ambassador to Turkey.
And the incoming Middle East envoy, real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff, is a longtime friend of Trump’s and a partner in the cryptocurrency business that Trump launched with his sons earlier this year.
He donated $250,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC.
