Candlelight, big checks and a corporate-backed ballroom: Ethics experts warn of Trump project

President Trump's gold-tinted dinner Wednesday for wealthy sponsors of his planned White House ballroom served yet another example of how corporate America has curried favor for access to his administration, ethics experts told Axios.The big picture: That pay-for-play relationship between Trump and business leaders under his second White House stay, critics argue, oversteps norms of presidential behavior.Don Fox, former acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, told Axios events like this dinner have a "potential coercive effect on people to donate," noting, "one of the president's favorite words is retribution."Driving the news: Representatives from Google, Amazon, Palantir Technologies, Lockheed Martin and more — many with lucrative contracts or pending business with the government — attended the East Room dinner.The guest list included wealthy Trump backers like Blackstone co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman and oil executive Harold G. Hamm, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed to Axios by a White House official."We have a lot of legends in the room tonight," Trump told the crowd, "and that's why we're here: To celebrate you, because you gave … tremendous amounts of money to see a ballroom built for the first time at the White House."Catch up quick: The 90,000 square-foot ballroom, announced in July, carries a more than $200 million price tag.Trump has given the White House a Mar-a-Lago-style makeover since his return to the Pennsylvania Ave. residence. He paved the Rose Garden lawn, gilded the Oval Office and has promised more to come.Friction point: Three ethics and legal experts told Axios they weren't suggesting any legal line was crossed, but Fox said the ballroom fundraiser violates "behavior and decency," calling the project "a monument to himself."Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law professor, said it also fosters "a favorable atmosphere of gratitude and reciprocity." When "there's personal solicitation and personal response," he added, "that just increases the likelihood that there'll be the give and take."Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the dinner could erode citizens' trust in government."All of this money that they're giving for something that's important to the president could influence his decision making, and he could be thinking about that instead of thinking about what's best for the American people," he said.What they're saying: White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement the president "is working 24/7 to Make America Great Again, including his historic beautification of the White House, at no taxpayer expense."He added the "long-needed upgrades will benefit generations of future presidents and American visitors to the People's House."Follow the money: Trump said Wednesday some donors want to give him $25 million to the project.The ballroom project has also played a role in one of Trump's recent legal battles. A $24.5 million settlement between the president and YouTube will support the ballroom.The Washington Post notes that nonprofits like the Trust for the National Mall, which partners with the National Park Service, are generally not required to disclose donors.Senate Democrats, in a Wednesday letter to the chiefs of Google and YouTube, connected the agreement in the censorship lawsuit to the government's antitrust case with Google.Threat level: "I think that's an incredibly dangerous and worrisome situation," Fox said. "It goes back to well, what if you didn't contribute? What if you didn't contribute as much as maybe the President would like for you to contribute?"The bottom line: Ethics experts called for increased transparency surrounding the project and its backers."Considering what the project is for, that is to build in addition to … the People's House, it should be completely transparent," Fox said. "We should see the name of every donor, and we should see the amount of those donations."Go deeper: Don the Builder: Inside Trump's White House makeover

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