Donald Trump raised $239 million for inauguration, more than doubling his own record

The entire, disclosed in a submitting with the Federal Election Fee on Sunday, is greater than double the earlier report of $107 million set by Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. About 140 completely different folks or firms gave no less than $1 million to the trouble, together with blue-chip firms like JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Traces and Goal.

The committee, identified formally because the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, is required by federal regulation to report the names of donors and the greenback quantities for contributions over $200 to the FEC not more than 90 days after the Jan. 20 ceremony. It isn’t required to report the way it spent the cash.

Lots of the donations to Trump’s inauguration have been beforehand introduced — comparable to $1 million every from tech giants like Meta and Amazon — partially as a result of firms needed it identified broadly that they have been backing Trump’s formal return to energy. However the report revealed just a few names not well-publicized, together with a number of associates of Elon Musk, comparable to tech traders like John Hering, Ken Howery and Keith Rabois, who every gave $1 million. (Neither Musk, a prime presidential adviser, nor any of his firms donated.)

The three largest contributions got here from a poultry producer, Pilgrim’s, which donated $5 million; a crypto firm, Ripple Inc., which donated slightly below that; and Warren Stephens, a Republican donor who gave $4 million on the identical day, Dec. 2, that Trump named him as his decide to be ambassador to Britain.

Inaugurations, even with a number of days of elaborate dinners and different occasions, have by no means value something close to roughly a quarter-billion {dollars}, and the quantity raised by the committee will resurface questions on the place any leftover funds may go. The committee has not stated how a lot cash it has spent, however the president’s allies have stated that the remaining quantity might be funnelled to different Trump-sponsored tasks, primarily a nonprofit group that may construct his presidential library.

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Contributions to inaugural festivities have lengthy been utilized by company pursuits to domesticate allies in an incoming administration, however the quantity raised by Trump is exceedingly excessive by historic requirements. George W. Bush, for example, collected $30 million in 2001 (roughly $55 million in immediately’s {dollars}). 4 years in the past, Joe Biden collected $62 million (practically $76 million in 2025 {dollars}) for his inauguration, although that celebration was pared down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s complete in 2017 was twice as a lot as any president-elect had ever raised for an inauguration. The $346 million raised by his two inaugural committees is greater than the nominal quantity raised by all different inaugural committees mixed since Richard Nixon’s $4 million in 1973.

The haul this yr by Trump’s inaugural committee was so giant that some seven-figure donors weren’t assured entry to premier occasions as a result of these features have been full. Trump’s committee accepted a complete of roughly $245 million, however issued about $6 million in refunds, together with a $50,000 verify from the Miss Universe Group, which Trump used to personal.