U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said he’s concerned about the demolition and rebuilding of the East Wing of the White House — and who is paying for it.
The East Wing has been torn down to make space for a ballroom that President Donald Trump wanted to add to the building. Trump said it’s needed to accommodate more guests at the White House.
Trump estimated that the project could cost $300 million, all of which would be privately funded. Donors include Apple, Google, Lockheed Martin and T-Mobile, as well as the president himself.
Blumenthal said he wants to know the terms of the donations.
“Many of these corporations and billionaires have matters before the federal government,” Blumenthal said. “Comcast has a merger. Google, Lockheed Martin, and Amazon have federal contracts. Others may have contracts or matters before the federal government in the future.”
“The American public deserves to know whether there was any understanding, even if it was just implicit, that they will be favored as a result, and whether they are currying favor through these donations,” he continued.
Blumenthal sent letters to the 37 donors, requesting that they disclose the terms of their donations.
“Their attitude should be that they have nothing to hide, and if they are concealing something that’s relevant to the public interest, all the more reason to know about it,” Blumenthal said.
Though he is the ranking member of the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has subpoena powers, Blumenthal is a member of the minority. He would have to convince his Republican colleagues to issue the legal order.
“I’ll be very blunt, perfectly clear-eyed. I know that my Republican colleagues are not going to jump at the opportunity of issuing a subpoena,” Blumenthal said. “But I’m hoping that they will have an equal interest in knowing all of the circumstances surrounding these donations.”