The ultra-rich have donated a record-shattering amount of funds to the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, with contributions from major corporations like Apple, Chevron, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Google, Pfizer, Microsoft and the pharmaceutical lobby. On Monday, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos will attend Trump’s inauguration with the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and a slew of other wealthy individuals tapped to join the new White House administration. “What’s even more concerning than the total amount being spent is the size of the donations that are coming in from corporations and billionaires, all of whom — just about all of whom — want something from the Trump administration,” says Craig Holman, Public Citizen’s Capitol Hill lobbyist, who is pushing for new legislation to regulate donations to the inauguration ceremony. “They are buying influence with the Trump administration, so we’re going to see scandal after scandal follow this inauguration. And reform often comes on the heels of scandal.”
