Donald Trump is rewarding many of his donors with important roles in his upcoming administration. Almost three dozen people tapped to serve in his White House donated to his campaign or to groups that supported his election, according to a CNN analysis of federal campaign records.
A dozen of Biden’s cabinet picks gave to his campaign or pro-Biden super PACs, but donations by Trump’s cabinet picks dwarf their total contributions. In total, Biden’s cabinet nominees gave less than $100,000 while Trump’s picks and their spouses gave a combined total of more than $37 million.
Elon Musk
Eccentric billionaire Elon Musk tops the list when it comes to donations, giving $262.9 million to support Trump’s campaign, which earned him the distinction of being the largest political donor in the 2024 election cycle. Trump has chosen Musk, the world’s richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency alongside failed GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.
The majority of Musk’s donations went to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC the Tesla and SpaceX CEO launched to bolster swing state voter turnout. He gave $20.5 million to a group claiming Trump would not ban abortion nationally as well as $3 million to a super PAC running ads that tried to convince Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s supporters to vote for Trump. Musk frequently appeared with Trump on the campaign trail and gave $1 million to 18 people who signed a pledge promising to vote for Trump.
Linda McMahon
WWE co-founder Linda McMahon donated $21.2 million toward Trump’s election and has secured a nomination to be secretary of education. She served in Trump’s first cabinet as head of the Small Business Administration. McMahon, who once falsely represented herself as having earned a bachelor’s degree in education, gave most of the money she donated to the pro-Trump super PAC Make American Great Again, Inc. She additionally helped to fund Trump’s Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden, giving $1 million to a newly-created super PAC, the America First Action Fund, which paid to secure the venue.
Howard Lutnick
Howard Lutnick, CEO of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, gave nearly $10 million to support Trump and held a $15 million fundraiser at his Hamptons home this past summer. In addition to co-chairing Trump’s transition, the billionaire is slated to be commerce secretary. This past week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Cantor Fitzgerald with “causing two special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that it controlled to make misleading statements to investors ahead of their initial public offerings (IPOs),” the SEC said in a statement.
Charles Kushner
Trump’s choice for ambassador to France is Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump. The elder Kushner, whom Trump pardoned at the end of his first term, gave $2 million in support of Trump this past election cycle. Kushner, a real estate developer, was convicted of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering and sentenced to two years in prison. At the time, Kushner was a top Democratic donor.
