{"id":1050489,"date":"2024-12-14T17:12:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T22:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050489"},"modified":"2024-12-15T17:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T22:14:40","slug":"icymi-cnn-big-donors-secure-big-roles-in-the-incoming-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-big-donors-secure-big-roles-in-the-incoming-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: CNN: Big Donors Secure Big Roles in the Incoming Trump Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"341\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1031397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png 1500w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=300,100 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=768,256 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=1024,341 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point:<\/strong> \u201cThe CNN analysis researched the more than 90 people that Trump had announced for high-level positions in the administration through Tuesday, which marked five weeks since his election victory. More than 30 of them had donated to his campaign or to one of the leading Trump-aligned outside groups, the review of FEC records found.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/14\/politics\/trump-administration-big-donors\/index.html\"><strong>CNN<\/strong><\/a><strong>: Big donors secure big roles in the incoming Trump administration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Fredreka Schouten, David Wright, and Alex Leeds Matthews&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>In all, eight of his Cabinet picks<\/strong> \u2013 led by Linda McMahon, the billionaire wrestling magnate Trump has selected to oversee the Education Department \u2013 <strong>and their spouses donated more than $37 million combined from their personal accounts to aid Trump,<\/strong> the review found, underscoring the proliferation of ultra-rich Americans now poised to shape US policy in the incoming second Trump administration.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Musk<\/strong> has not been selected for a formal Cabinet job but <strong>is helping guide a new Department of Government Efficiency initiative and has played a pivotal role in the presidential transition<\/strong> [&#8230;] the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive <strong>donated more than $277 million<\/strong> to federal elections this cycle, the lion\u2019s share of which \u2013 more than $262 million \u2013 benefited Trump.\u00a0<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The CNN analysis researched the more than 90 people that Trump had announced for high-level positions in the administration through Tuesday, which marked five weeks since his election victory. More than 30 of them had donated to his campaign or to one of the leading Trump-aligned outside groups, the review of FEC records found.<\/strong><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>McMahon was the largest donor among Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks <\/strong>and the second most generous contributor, after Musk [&#8230;] Most of <strong>the $21.2 million she donated<\/strong> went to Make American Great Again, Inc., the main Trump-affiliated super PAC that spent heavily on advertising to aid his campaign.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Other seven-figure donors among Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks include Cantor Fitzgerald chief Howard Lutnick<\/strong>, whom Trump has tapped to serve as Commerce secretary; <strong>Scott Bessent<\/strong>, the hedge fund executive Trump has selected to oversee the Treasury Department; and former <strong>Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler<\/strong>, his choice to head the Small Business Administration.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some of <strong>Trump\u2019s early picks for ambassadorships<\/strong> follow that pattern and <strong>include billionaires who donated to his reelection effort. <\/strong>Among them: Arkansas investor Warren Stephens, named as the US\u2019 envoy to the UK, and <strong>Charles Kushner [&#8230;] who donated $2 million to pro-Trump efforts<\/strong> and received a presidential pardon at the end of Trump\u2019s first term, is the father-in-law of Trump\u2019s daughter, Ivanka. Another donor, <strong>Tom Barrack<\/strong>, who <strong>oversaw the fundraising for Trump\u2019s first inauguration<\/strong>, is his choice as ambassador to Turkey.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And<strong> incoming special envoy to the Middle East<\/strong>, real-estate tycoon Steve Witkoff [&#8230;] <strong>donated $250,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Point: \u201cThe CNN analysis researched the more than 90 people that Trump had announced for high-level positions in the administration through Tuesday, which marked five weeks since his election victory. More than 30 of them had donated to his campaign or to one of the leading Trump-aligned outside groups, the review of FEC records [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ICYMI: CNN: Big Donors Secure Big Roles in the Incoming Trump Administration - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-big-donors-secure-big-roles-in-the-incoming-trump-administration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-14T22:12:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-15T22:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-big-donors-secure-big-roles-in-the-incoming-trump-administration\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-big-donors-secure-big-roles-in-the-incoming-trump-administration\/\",\"name\":\"ICYMI: CNN: Big Donors Secure Big Roles in the Incoming Trump Administration - 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