OpenSecrets

10/24/2025 | Press release | Archived content

Private funds flowing into government spaces threaten transparency and accountability

The East Wing of the White House was demolished on Oct. 23. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Washington, D.C. — The executive branch’s decision to spend private, undisclosed money on government operations raises serious concerns about private influence on public services, underscoring the urgency of transparency and accountability. Recent announcements by the White House highlight two troubling trends.

The White House has begun demolishing the East Wing of the White House in order to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom — a project projected to cost between $200 million and $300 million. This project is being funded by private donations, not taxpayer dollars. Past renovations of the White House have been funded by both public and private dollars, but none of them came close to the estimated costs of this project. While the White House has identified at least some of the donors, it has not released a comprehensive list of the amounts they have donated.

And this week, President Donald Trump announced that an unnamed but wealthy private donor has offered to provide $130 million to cover military salaries amid the ongoing government shutdown. By working outside the federal appropriations process, the White House is creating the potential for individuals to hold unwarranted influence over the U.S. military and other government operations.

“When private money moves through government without transparency, from White House upgrades to military pay, it opens the door to hidden influence. First it’s calling off a National Guard deployment. Next it could be shaping public policy for personal gain. A government of the people must be transparent. The public has a right to know who’s paying, how much, and for what,” said Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets.

OpenSecrets urges the following actions:

  1. Require full donor disclosure of any private funds used for government buildings, renovations, or programs — including names and amounts, as required for federal campaign donations and lobbying.
  2. Clarify and enforce rules around private funding of public roles (such as military pay) to ensure constitutional safeguards are maintained and public accountability remains intact.
  3. Public-access databases should clearly indicate when private dollars are influencing public programs, and the identities of the actors behind them.

“These scenarios show directly how private money is entering spaces that are inherently public, raising real risk of pay-for-play, undue influence, and weakened democratic infrastructure that can be controlled by the whims of wealthy interests,” Braseth said.

About OpenSecrets

Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, OpenSecrets is the trusted authority on money in American politics. Its mission is to provide comprehensive and reliable data, analysis, and tools for policymakers, storytellers and citizens. Its vision is for Americans to use data on money in politics to create a more vibrant, representative and responsive democracy.

Contact:David Meyers
Director of Communications & Marketing
[email protected]

Republish this article

We encourage you to republish our content. Please review our republication policy for guidelines.

Get Republish Code

Republish this article

×

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print. It's free under a Creative Commons license and in accordance with our republication policy.

OpenSecrets Republication Policy

OpenSecrets is dedicated to helping Americans use data on money in politics to create a more vibrant, representative and responsive democracy. That is why we allow republication of our news and analysis in print or online, for free, under the terms of our Creative Commons license and our republication policy.

  • You may not edit our content, except for time, location and editorial style. You may shorten articles for space considerations.
  • You must provide a byline for the author of the content, matching the byline appearing on OpenSecrets.org.
  • You must maintain all original hyperlinks.
  • You must include a line at the top or bottom of each article that reads "This story was originally published by OpenSecrets" and link to the original version of the story on opensecrets.org.
  • Online articles must use our tracking pixel, which is included in the republishing tool. This allows us to track views of our content on your platform.
  • We request you send PDFs of any content that appears in print to [email protected].
  • Infographics created by OpenSecrets may be included in your republication, but photographs or visual content credited to other organizations may not be used without gaining permission from the provider (such as Getty Images).
  • We request that you tag OpenSecrets when sharing our content in your social channels.
  • You may not sell or otherwise commercialize our content without gaining permission, which you can request by emailing [email protected]. You may run ads on pages featuring OpenSecrets content.
  • Do not syndicate our content through platforms such as Apple News or SmartNews.
  • You may not scrape or otherwise systematically take news content from OpenSecrets.org to populate your site.

If you have any additional questions, email [email protected].

Embed

Private funds flowing into government spaces threaten transparency and accountability

By OpenSecrets.org October 24, 2025
The East Wing of the White House was demolished on Oct. 23. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Washington, D.C. — The executive branch’s decision to spend private, undisclosed money on government operations raises serious concerns about private influence on public services, underscoring the urgency of transparency and accountability. Recent announcements by the White House highlight two troubling trends.

The White House has begun demolishing the East Wing of the White House in order to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom — a project projected to cost between $200 million and $300 million. This project is being funded by private donations, not taxpayer dollars. Past renovations of the White House have been funded by both public and private dollars, but none of them came close to the estimated costs of this project. While the White House has identified at least some of the donors, it has not released a comprehensive list of the amounts they have donated.

And this week, President Donald Trump announced that an unnamed but wealthy private donor has offered to provide $130 million to cover military salaries amid the ongoing government shutdown. By working outside the federal appropriations process, the White House is creating the potential for individuals to hold unwarranted influence over the U.S. military and other government operations.

“When private money moves through government without transparency, from White House upgrades to military pay, it opens the door to hidden influence. First it’s calling off a National Guard deployment. Next it could be shaping public policy for personal gain. A government of the people must be transparent. The public has a right to know who’s paying, how much, and for what,” said Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets.

OpenSecrets urges the following actions:

  1. Require full donor disclosure of any private funds used for government buildings, renovations, or programs — including names and amounts, as required for federal campaign donations and lobbying.
  2. Clarify and enforce rules around private funding of public roles (such as military pay) to ensure constitutional safeguards are maintained and public accountability remains intact.
  3. Public-access databases should clearly indicate when private dollars are influencing public programs, and the identities of the actors behind them.

“These scenarios show directly how private money is entering spaces that are inherently public, raising real risk of pay-for-play, undue influence, and weakened democratic infrastructure that can be controlled by the whims of wealthy interests,” Braseth said.

About OpenSecrets

Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, OpenSecrets is the trusted authority on money in American politics. Its mission is to provide comprehensive and reliable data, analysis, and tools for policymakers, storytellers and citizens. Its vision is for Americans to use data on money in politics to create a more vibrant, representative and responsive democracy.

Contact:David Meyers
Director of Communications & Marketing
[email protected]

This article was originally published by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. View the original article.

Copy Code
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets.
For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: [email protected]

Support Accountability Journalism

At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2022 midterm fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.

OpenSecrets is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Your donation is tax-exempt.

OpenSecrets published this content on October 24, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 27, 2026 at 14:42 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]