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

Washington: President Donald Trump raised $239 million for his inauguration festivities in January, a norm-shattering amount fueled by corporate America’s desire to curry favor with a famously transactional president.

The total, disclosed in a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, is more than double the previous record of $107 million set by Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. About 140 different people or companies gave at least $1 million to the effort, including blue-chip companies like JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines and Target.

The committee, known formally as the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, is required by federal law to report the names of donors and the dollar amounts for contributions over $200 to the FEC no more than 90 days after the Jan. 20 ceremony. It is not required to report how it spent the money.

Many of the donations to Trump’s inauguration were previously announced — such as $1 million each from tech giants like Meta and Amazon — in part because companies wanted it known widely that they were backing Trump’s formal return to power. But the report revealed a few names not well-publicized, including several friends of Elon Musk, such as tech investors like John Hering, Ken Howery and Keith Rabois, who each gave $1 million. (Neither Musk, a top presidential adviser, nor any of his companies donated.)

The three largest contributions came from a poultry producer, Pilgrim’s, which donated $5 million; a crypto company, Ripple Inc., which donated just under that; and Warren Stephens, a Republican donor who gave $4 million on the same day, Dec. 2, that Trump named him as his pick to be ambassador to Britain.

Inaugurations, even with several days of elaborate dinners and other events, have never cost anything near roughly a quarter-billion dollars, and the amount raised by the committee will resurface questions about where any leftover funds might go. The committee has not said how much money it has spent, but the president’s allies have said that the remaining amount will be funneled to other Trump-sponsored projects, primarily a nonprofit organization that will build his presidential library.

Contributions to inaugural festivities have long been used by corporate interests to cultivate allies in an incoming administration, but the amount raised by Trump is exceedingly high by historical standards. George W. Bush, for instance, collected $30 million in 2001 (roughly $55 million in today’s dollars). Four years ago, Joe Biden collected $62 million (nearly $76 million in 2025 dollars) for his inauguration, though that celebration was pared down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s total in 2017 was twice as much as any president-elect had ever raised for an inauguration. The $346 million raised by his two inaugural committees is more than the nominal amount raised by all other inaugural committees combined since Richard Nixon’s $4 million in 1973.

The haul this year by Trump’s inaugural committee was so large that some seven-figure donors were not guaranteed access to premier events because those functions were full. Trump’s committee accepted a total of roughly $245 million, but issued about $6 million in refunds, including a $50,000 check from the Miss Universe Organization, which Trump used to own.