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White House Ballroom Funding “Bribery or Public Corruption?” — Trump’s DOJ Nominee Says “I Don’t See How That Is”

Usa today news
Sen. Mazie Hirono

Florida prosecutor Andrew Tysen Duva is President Trump’s nominee for Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees public corruption cases.

As seen below, at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Duva was asked for his legal opinion regarding companies pitching President Trump to build the $250 million ballroom at the White House, a project already underway as the controversial razing of the East Wing of the White House began this week.

(Note: Trump has said the ballroom is a privately funded project — by him and private donors and corporations — claiming it will not cost taxpayers money.)

Committee member Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) asked Duva: “If a government official wants to build a new building and Big Tech billionaires jump in line to pay for it, would that raise concerns about bribery or public corruption?”

When Duva replied: “Senator, I’m not sure what specific incident you’re talking about. I’m not familiar with that,” Hirono replied, “The building of the ballroom. The demolition of the East Wing and the building of the ballroom.” Hirono said, “You are aware that that is happening,” to which Duva replied, “I am aware of that.”

Hirono asked again: “Does that indicate public corruption or bribery?”

Duva replied, “I don’t see how that is. I don’t know how that came about or the procurement for it. Or who’s involved. That’s not something I’m familiar with.”

Hirono concluded: “There was nothing. The President decided it would be a good idea and companies are jumping in line to try and curry favor with him.”

Note: Google parent Alphabet will pay $22 million towards the ballroom project as part of YouTube’s settlement with Trump regarding a lawsuit over the suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The mysterious funding of the ballroom project has triggered concern among some legal experts including Richard Painter, former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, who said: “It’s using access to the White House to raise money. I don’t like it.” He added, “These corporations all want something from the government.”

(Note: The criminal division is currently run by acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti, who previously served as Acting Deputy Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section in the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.)

On Thursday, the White House released a list of donors it says are committed to funding the project, nearly all of which are subject to government regulation and oversight. The group includes well-connected real estate billionaires, casino industry moguls like the Adelson family, major tech companies, crypto entrepreneurs such as the Winklevoss twins, and the sugar magnates J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul whose business Trump recently helped when he extracted a promise from Coca-Cola to use real sugar in its signature drink. Donors below:

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