Research current through October 3, 2026.

The inaugural committee: the payment you can see

This page is about the second act of the episode; every factual sentence on it has a source link, each link has a grade (A, B or C; see how we grade), and every pairing of a donation with a later government action is timing, not proof.

What the episode said

The episode said Trump’s 2025 inaugural committee raised a record $245.3 million with no cap on how much one donor could give (FEC Form 13^A; CNN^B). It said that in our tally of the 123 donors who gave exactly $1 million, roughly thirty percent had favorable federal timing, that some cases are uncertain, and that none of it proves a deal (FEC Form 13^A). It said Sam Altman gave $1 million personally and that OpenAI later received a Defense Department contract with a $200 million ceiling, “a ceiling, not money already paid” (FEC Form 13^A; DoD contracts announcement^A). It said Tim Cook gave $1 million personally, that the Washington Post reported he called Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that broad electronics exemptions followed and covered other companies too, and that Senator Warren cited reporting that Apple appears to be the only company that benefits from virtually all of them (FEC Form 13^A; Reuters via Yahoo Finance^B; Sen. Warren’s release^A). It said PhRMA and PCMA, on opposite sides of the drug-price fight, each gave $1 million, and that PhRMA called the reform law “a win for patients” while PCMA complained (FEC Form 13^A; Healthcare Brew^B; PCMA^A). It said some donors still got bad news: Uber was sued by the FTC months after giving, and Freedom Holding’s filings disclose an SEC enforcement warning (FTC press release^A; Freedom Holding 10-K note^A). The filing also shows that Freedom Holding’s $1,000,000 gift was refunded in full on Jan. 21, 2025, which the episode did not say (FEC Form 13^A). It closed on this: donations are known, decisions are known, and a deal is not established (FEC Form 13^A).

What we found

The filing

The Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee reported $245,272,420.15 in gross donations across 943 itemized records, which matches the filing’s own summary line; we re-parsed the raw FEC Form 13 to check (FEC Form 13^A). The same filing lists 28 refunds totaling $6,230,697.38, so net donations were $239,041,722.77 (FEC Form 13^A). The episode’s “record 245.3 million dollars” is the gross figure, and the net figure is still more than double the prior record (FEC Form 13^A; CNN^B). The filing shows no per-donor dollar cap (FEC Form 13^A). CNN reported on April 20, 2025 that the prior record was $107 million, for Trump’s 2017 inauguration, and that Biden’s 2021 committee collected about $62 million (CNN^B). CNN’s headline figure of “nearly $240 million” is the net figure, and its article also reports the committee taking in “nearly $245.3 million” and refunding “a little more than $6 million” (CNN^B).

The largest single gift of any kind was Pilgrim’s Pride’s $5,000,000 on Jan. 2, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A).

The filing is a report of donations, so it lists who gave and not what the committee spent (FEC Form 13^A). We found no public record of what the committee spent or of any leftover money, and we found no legal requirement to report either, so the “blank part of this receipt” is structural and not a failure of our search (FEC Form 13^A).

The donors at exactly one million dollars

An independent re-parse of the raw filing, grouping gifts by donor, finds 123 donors at exactly $1,000,000.00, not 124 (FEC Form 13^A). Hims, Inc. is excluded because its entries sum to $1,000,000.01, four of the 123 reach $1,000,000 across several entries, and 14 donors gave more than $1,000,000 (FEC Form 13^A). We first checked those 14 plus 11 of the $1 million tier, picked alphabetically, and then chased the other 112 (FEC Form 13^A).

Our own tally of the 123 (FEC Form 13^A lists the donors; the outcome classes are our research, not a government finding): 40 show favorable federal timing, 10 show an adverse federal outcome after giving, 9 are mixed, 49 show nothing either way, 11 could not be resolved, and 4 are private individuals we did not investigate and do not name. Forty of 123 is 32.5%, which the episode rounded down to “roughly thirty percent” (donor list^A). One of the 123, Freedom Holding, had its $1,000,000 refunded in full on Jan. 21, 2025; we count it as a gift made, and 40 of 122 would be 32.8%, so “roughly thirty percent” holds either way (donor list^A). The 40 includes six cases we flag as weak and one we flag as structural, so it is the generous reading (donor list^A). A larger share, 68 of the 123 (49 none-found, 10 adverse and 9 mixed), shows no clean benefit at all (donor list^A). There is no clean pattern across the tier (donor list^A).

What the labels mean:

• Favorable timing: a favorable federal action followed the gift, and we applied no uniform time window.
• Adverse: an adverse federal outcome followed the gift, and KKR counts under this standard even though its penalty came in an industry-wide sweep.
• Mixed: the outcome cuts both ways.
• None found: we searched and found no federal action, favorable or adverse, and a setback that predates the gift, or a private lawsuit, is counted here and not as adverse.
• Unresolved: the donor’s identity (a shell company or a trust, for example) or the outcome of the federal action could not be pinned down.

The cases we can link, favorable and adverse side by side

These are the cases we discuss here; the full table of donors is not yet released. They are in alphabetical order, in one list and one format, so no outcome gets more room than another. Each entry has what the filing displays, what happened next and the counter-explanation. Timing, not proof, applies to every one.

• Adobe: ADVERSE. Adobe gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 6, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). The FTC’s subscription-cancellation suit against it, filed in 2024 before the gift, ended in a $150 million settlement with the Justice Department, a real payout and not a dismissal, according to Compliance Week (Compliance Week^B). Timing, not proof, in either direction (Compliance Week^B).
• Sam Altman and OpenAI: FAVORABLE TIMING, with a weaker link than it sounds. Altman gave $1,000,000 personally on Dec. 13, 2024, and OpenAI, the company, does not appear anywhere in the 943-record filing (FEC Form 13^A). The Defense Department’s contract announcement of June 16, 2025 lists a $200,000,000 prototype agreement for OpenAI (HQ0883-25-9-0012); the $200 million is a ceiling, with $1,999,998 obligated at award (DoD contracts announcement^A). DefenseScoop and Nextgov report that on July 14, 2025 the Pentagon’s AI office added Anthropic, Google and xAI, each on a contract worth up to $200 million, after OpenAI’s June award (DefenseScoop^B; Nextgov^B). The General Services Administration announced on Aug. 6, 2025 a deal offering ChatGPT Enterprise to federal agencies for $1 per agency per year (GSA release^A), and it announced a similar OneGov deal with Anthropic on Aug. 12, 2025, which fits a program open to the sector (GSA release^A). Timing, not proof: the donor of record is Altman as an individual, and a procurement program open to several vendors is a counter-explanation (GSA release^A).
• Altria: FAVORABLE TIMING. Altria Client Services gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 27, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The FDA formally withdrew its proposed menthol-cigarette and flavored-cigar ban from OMB review on Jan. 21, 2025, Trump’s second full day in office and 25 days after the gift (ONS advocacy news^B). Timing, not proof: the rule had been stalled since an April 2024 “indefinite delay” under the Biden FDA, and withdrawing pending Biden-era rules was a stated, across-the-board first-week action of the new administration, not specific to menthol or Altria (ONS advocacy news^B).
• Anheuser-Busch: ADVERSE, industry-wide. Anheuser Busch Companies gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 13, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). Beer and empty aluminum cans were added to the Section 232 aluminum-derivatives tariff list effective April 4, 2025, with duty assessed on the aluminum content, which is an industry-wide measure that runs against the donor’s product (Federal Register^A). Timing, not proof (Federal Register^A).
• Applied Materials: ADVERSE. Applied Materials gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 6, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). It agreed to pay a $252.5 million penalty to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, announced Feb. 11, 2026, about 13 months after the gift, over 2020 to 2022 reexports to China’s SMIC through Applied Materials Korea (Applied Materials 8-K exhibit^A; BIS settlement documents^A; Manufacturing Dive^B). Timing, not proof: the penalty concerns conduct from 2020 to 2022 (BIS settlement documents^A).
• AT&T: FAVORABLE TIMING, long gap. AT&T Services gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 28, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). The FCC approved AT&T’s $1 billion UScellular spectrum purchase on Dec. 3, 2025, about 10 months later, after AT&T committed to ending its DEI programs, a condition the administration applied to telecom deals generally (Broadband Breakfast^B). Timing, not proof: the documented condition was that general policy (Broadband Breakfast^B).
• BlackRock: ADVERSE, allegations in an active case. BlackRock Financial Management gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 31, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). Texas and other Republican-led states sued BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, alleging that ESG and “Net Zero” coordination suppressed coal output in violation of antitrust law (No. 6:24-cv-00437, E.D. Tex.) (court docket^A). The suit was filed on Nov. 27, 2024, before the gift, so the federal steps after the gift were the DOJ and FTC statement of interest in May 2025 backing the states’ antitrust theory in general terms and the court’s ruling on the motions to dismiss (Utility Dive^B; FTC press release^A). On Aug. 1, 2025 the court denied dismissal of 18 of the 21 counts and dismissed three narrower ones, and on Feb. 26, 2026 Vanguard, not BlackRock, was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation while BlackRock and State Street remain defendants (court docket^A). These are allegations in an active, unsettled, state-led case, not a finding of wrongdoing, and not a federal charge (court docket^A). Timing, not proof (court docket^A).
• Chevron: MIXED. Chevron Products Co. gave $2,000,000 on Dec. 13, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The U.S. government announced the revocation of Chevron’s Venezuela license on Feb. 26, 2025, with a wind-down period through April 3, 2025 (Holland & Knight^B). According to WLRN, a new, restricted Treasury license allowing Chevron to operate again followed in late July 2025, about seven months after the gift, with conditions barring payments to the Maduro government, which was still in power at the time (WLRN^B). Timing, not proof: the first federal move after the gift was a setback (Holland & Knight^B).
• Tim Cook and Apple: FAVORABLE TIMING. Cook gave $1,000,000 personally on Jan. 3, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). The Washington Post reported on April 17, 2025, citing two people familiar, that Cook spoke with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the tariffs’ effect on iPhone prices (Reuters via Yahoo Finance^B). On April 11, 2025 the administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from the new China tariffs, a product-category exemption open to every importer (MacRumors^B). Senator Warren’s release credits “Cook’s conversation with Trump administration officials,” citing the Post, and quotes reporting that Apple “appears to be the only company that benefits” from virtually all of the exemptions (Sen. Warren’s release^A). Timing, not proof: the exemption was category-wide, and Warren’s release does not itself describe a phone call (Sen. Warren’s release^A).
• Tilman Fertitta and Ken Howery: FAVORABLE TIMING, appointments. Fertitta gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 17, 2024 and Howery gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 9, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). Fertitta was named Trump’s pick for Ambassador to Italy four days after his gift, as president-elect, and was confirmed 83 to 14 on April 29, 2025 (Houston Public Media^B). According to Wikipedia, Howery was named Trump’s pick for Ambassador to Denmark 13 days after his gift, was formally nominated after the inauguration, and was confirmed Oct. 7, 2025 (Wikipedia^C). Timing, not proof (Houston Public Media^B). Our reading, which is opinion and not a sourced finding: major-donor ambassadorships are a long-running pattern across administrations.
• Freedom Holding: ADVERSE, not an accusation. Freedom Holding Corp gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 10, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). The filing also shows the $1,000,000 refunded in full on Jan. 21, 2025, and we count it among the gifts made (FEC Form 13^A). Its fiscal-2026 annual report, filed June 1, 2026, says that since 2021 the company and certain officers and directors have received SEC subpoenas, and that on March 11, 2026 the company and its chairman and chief executive, Timur Turlov, received a Wells Notice from SEC staff (Freedom Holding 10-K note^A). The note describes a “preliminary determination” to recommend a civil enforcement action, which is not a charge, and says the company and Turlov have challenged it (Freedom Holding 10-K note^A). The note describes no charges, and it contains no sanctions language (Freedom Holding 10-K note^A). Timing, not proof (Freedom Holding 10-K note^A).
• Hims & Hers: ADVERSE. Hims, Inc. gave $1,000,000.01 across two entries, on Jan. 6 and Jan. 14, 2025, one cent over the $1 million tier (FEC Form 13^A). The FDA sent Hims & Hers a warning letter on Sept. 9, 2025 over marketing of its compounded semaglutide (FDA warning letter^A). Timing, not proof (FDA warning letter^A).
• KKR: ADVERSE, industry-wide sweep. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 7, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). On Jan. 13, 2025 the SEC announced settled recordkeeping charges over off-channel communications against twelve firms, about $63 million in total, with KKR agreeing to pay $11 million (Alternatives Watch^B; Financial Planning^B). It was one of twelve firms settled that day in a sweep that has reached more than 100 firms since December 2021, which makes it industry-wide enforcement and not a KKR-specific action, and no source links the penalty to the gift (BCLP summary^B). We could not read the SEC’s own order, so the figures rest on the two outlets (Alternatives Watch^B). Timing, not proof (Alternatives Watch^B).
• PhRMA and PCMA: OPPOSITE OUTCOMES. PhRMA, which represents drug makers, gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 20, 2024, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), which represents pharmacy benefit managers, gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 16, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). When the PBM-reform law was signed on Feb. 3, 2026, PhRMA’s president and CEO, Stephen Ubl, called it “a win for patients, pharmacists, providers, and employers” (Healthcare Brew^B; Fierce Healthcare^B). PCMA’s own post of May 19, 2026 says it opposed the legislation as needless (PCMA^A). Two gifts of the same size landed on opposite sides of the same law, which is why a simple “one gift, one favor” story does not fit; timing, not proof, in both cases (PCMA^A).
• Pilgrim’s Pride: NO BENEFIT FOUND. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. gave $5,000,000 on Jan. 2, 2025, the single largest donation of any kind in the filing (FEC Form 13^A). The only USDA Packers and Stockyards settlement we found is from 2023, an unrelated Texas matter about late payments to poultry growers with a $3,750 civil penalty, announced Sept. 28, 2023, before the gift (USDA release^A). We found no post-donation USDA benefit (USDA release^A). Timing, not proof, in either direction (USDA release^A).
• Uber: ADVERSE, allegations. Uber Technologies gave $1,000,000 on Nov. 19, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The FTC sued Uber on April 21, 2025 over Uber One billing and cancellation practices (No. 4:25-cv-03477, N.D. Cal.), and 21 states plus D.C. later joined (FTC press release^A; court docket^A). The suit is an allegation, not a finding, and we found no source that links the gift to the suit (court docket^A). Timing, not proof (court docket^A).
• Venture Global LNG: FAVORABLE TIMING. Venture Global LNG gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 5, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The Department of Energy conditionally authorized non-FTA exports from its CP2 terminal on March 19, 2025 (Order No. 5264) and issued the final authorization on Oct. 21, 2025 (Order No. 5264-A), running through Dec. 31, 2050 (Federal Register notice^A). Timing, not proof (Federal Register notice^A).
• Verizon: FAVORABLE TIMING. Verizon Financial Service gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 19, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The FCC approved Verizon’s $20 billion Frontier Communications merger on May 16, 2025 (Broadband Breakfast^B). Timing, not proof (Broadband Breakfast^B).

Cases we did not count as adverse

Three donors had a federal or legal setback that we do not count as “adverse after giving,” because of when it happened or what kind of case it was.

• Breeze Smoke gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 23, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A). The FDA’s marketing-denial order on its flavored vapes and the Sixth Circuit’s refusal to stay it date from 2021 and 2022, years before the gift, and a trade-press report describes a roughly 90% revenue collapse since June 2025 amid industry-wide enforcement (Nicotine Insider^B). It donated into an already-adverse situation and got no relief afterward, so we count it as none found (Nicotine Insider^B).
• Gotion gave $1,000,000 on Jan. 8, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). The Pentagon procurement ban on its batteries is in the fiscal-2024 defense authorization act, signed Dec. 22, 2023 and effective October 2027, over a year before the gift (Bloomberg^B; TradingView^B). We count it as none found (Bloomberg^B).
• Tyson Shared Services gave $1,000,000 across two entries, on Jan. 7 and Jan. 16, 2025 (FEC Form 13^A). It paid $55 million of an $87.5 million consumer class-action settlement with Cargill over beef price-fixing, with final court approval on May 27, 2026, which is a private lawsuit and not a federal agency action (Bloomberg Law^B; Meat+Poultry^B). We count it as none found (Bloomberg Law^B).

The crypto cluster, and the counter-explanation

Coinbase gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 3, 2024, Payward Inc (Kraken’s legal entity) gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 4, Robinhood Markets gave $2,000,000 on Dec. 16, and Ripple Labs gave $4,889,345.33 on Jan. 2, 2025, about $8.9 million combined by our sum (FEC Form 13^A). Foris DAX, Inc. (Crypto.com) gave $1,000,000 on Dec. 16, 2024 (FEC Form 13^A).

Within months the SEC announced it would drop its appeal against Ripple (March 19, 2025), and a joint stipulation dismissing both sides’ appeals was filed Aug. 7, 2025 (BeInCrypto^B). The SEC dismissed its case against Kraken with prejudice in late March 2025, along with its cases against Consensys and Cumberland DRW (The Block^B). Crypto.com announced on March 27, 2025 that the SEC had closed its investigation without enforcement action (Crypto.com announcement^A; The Block^B).

Timing, not proof, and there is a strong counter-explanation. According to Wikipedia, SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced his departure on Nov. 21, 2024, before every one of those gifts (Wikipedia: Gary Gensler^C). The SEC announced the formation of a Crypto Task Force on Jan. 21, 2025 (SEC press release^A). According to Wikipedia, OpenSea, which does not appear as a donor in this filing, received the same kind of relief in February 2025 after an August 2024 Wells notice (Wikipedia: OpenSea^C). That supports an industry-wide policy-shift reading over a donor-specific one (Wikipedia: Gary Gensler^C; Wikipedia: OpenSea^C).

A different committee is a separate item. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini’s founders, gave more than $1 million combined to MAGA Inc., Trump’s main super PAC, just before the January 2025 inauguration, and not to the inaugural committee, according to CNN, which also reports that the CFTC under Trump reversed course to side with Gemini in seeking to withdraw a penalty from a 2025 judgment (CNN^B). Cointelegraph, citing MAGA Inc.’s July report to the FEC, reports two contributions of more than $5 million in Bitcoin through Gemini Trust Company on June 19, 2026 (Cointelegraph^B), and CryptoSlate puts the total at $10.018 million, 23 days after the CFTC joined that motion (CryptoSlate^C). No source establishes that the gift caused or influenced the CFTC’s action, and we did not read the FEC primary record (Cointelegraph^B).

Freedom 250: a separate, later entity

Freedom 250 is not part of the January 2025 inaugural filing (Wikipedia: Freedom 250^C; National Park Foundation FAQ^A). It is a bounded item that came up while we chased donor leads, and we include it so its facts stay in their lane.

• According to Wikipedia, Freedom 250 LLC is a limited liability company “created by, and housed inside” the National Park Foundation, a congressionally chartered 501(c)(3), so it is not itself an IRS-recognized tax-exempt organization, and it is legally and operationally separate from the inaugural committee and from the Trump-Vance 2025 Transition, Inc. (Wikipedia: Freedom 250^C; National Park Foundation FAQ^A).
• According to Wikipedia, the White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday was created by executive order on Jan. 29, 2025, and Freedom 250 serves as its “primary branding and funding arm” (Wikipedia: Freedom 250^C). The Foundation’s own FAQ says the National Park Service and the Foundation entered into a cooperative agreement in November 2025 and does not give the LLC’s own formation date, so we do not date the LLC to January 2025 (National Park Foundation FAQ^A).
• Because it is an LLC inside a 501(c)(3), Freedom 250 does not disclose individual donation amounts, and Sen. Warren’s letter of Sept. 14, 2026 gives three sponsors’ figures, Chevron at $5,000,000, United Airlines at $2,500,000 and RTX at $1,500,000 (Sen. Warren’s letter^A). NOTUS reports that these figures came to light through Lobbying Disclosure Act filings, and that Lockheed Martin, GE Aerospace and Northrop Grumman did not disclose their payments on their own filings, which NOTUS calls “a potential lobbying law violation” (NOTUS, now at The Washington Sun^B). That characterization is NOTUS’s, attributed to NOTUS, and we do not assert a legal violation (NOTUS, now at The Washington Sun^B).
• Letters from Sen. Warren and colleagues dated Feb. 12 and Sept. 14, 2026 sought a donor accounting, and the September letter set a Sept. 28, 2026 deadline (Sen. Warren’s Feb. letter^A; Sen. Warren’s Sept. letter^A). As of Sept. 30, 2026 we had found no response from Freedom 250 or the White House (Sen. Warren’s Sept. letter^A).
• On July 2, 2026, House Natural Resources Committee Democrats released a 55-page interim report alleging that Freedom 250 misled donors and that, if true, this would be wire fraud and charitable-solicitation fraud, and Freedom 250’s spokesperson called the claims “categorically false” (NPR^B; The Hill^B; Snopes^B). Those are allegations, not findings, and we did not fetch the report itself (NPR^B).

Context: letters and trackers

Senators Warren and Bennet wrote on Jan. 17, 2025 to the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Uber questioning their inaugural gifts of $1 million or more (Sen. Warren’s release^A). Others track the same territory, including Sludge and More Perfect Union, which credit Public Citizen’s enforcement tracker (Sludge^B), CREW’s reports and investigations (CREW^B) and Campaign Legal Center’s transaction tracker (Campaign Legal Center^B). We list them as places to look and do not adopt their framing (Sludge^B; CREW^B; Campaign Legal Center^B).

What the episode compressed

• “Roughly thirty percent had favorable federal timing.” The tally is our own count of 40 of 123, or 32.5%, and it includes six weak and one structural case; 68 of the 123 show no clean benefit (FEC Form 13^A).
• “A 200-million-dollar ceiling.” Only $1,999,998 was obligated at award, the donor of record is Altman personally and not the company, and the same-size ceilings went to Anthropic, Google and xAI about a month later, on July 14, 2025 (DefenseScoop^B; Nextgov^B).
• “Other companies were covered, too.” The exemption was a product-category exemption open to every importer, and the Post’s account of the call comes from two people familiar, relayed by Reuters (MacRumors^B; Reuters via Yahoo Finance^B).
• “PCMA complained.” PCMA’s own post says it opposed the legislation as needless (PCMA^A).
• “The FTC sued over Uber One’s cancellation practices.” That is an allegation, and the on-screen card said so (FTC press release^A).
• “Freedom Holding also gave a million.” The filing shows the $1,000,000 refunded in full on Jan. 21, 2025, and our tally counts it as a gift made (FEC Form 13^A).
• “Its filings disclose an SEC enforcement warning.” The filing describes a Wells Notice dated March 11, 2026, a preliminary staff determination and not a charge, and SEC subpoenas since 2021 (Freedom Holding 10-K note^A).
• “Raised a record 245.3 million dollars.” The $245.3 million is the gross figure; refunds of $6,230,697.38 leave $239,041,722.77 net, still above the prior record of $107 million, in 2017 (FEC Form 13^A; CNN^B).
• “A very expensive way to watch somebody put a hand on a book.” That is a joke, and not a claim about how the money was spent, which we could not find (FEC Form 13^A).
• “Sat behind a pole” and “a gazebo” are jokes.

What we couldn’t prove (and where we looked)

• A causal link between any donation and any government action. We found none for any donor, including the best-documented cluster, crypto, and the best-documented single case, Altman and OpenAI (FEC Form 13^A; GSA release^A).
• What the committee spent, and any leftover money. The filing is a donations report; we found no public record of spending or surplus and no legal requirement to report either (FEC Form 13^A).
• Eleven donors in the tier. In each case the donor’s own identity could not be pinned down (a shell company or a trust, for example) or the federal action’s outcome is unresolved, so they sit in the “unresolved” class (FEC Form 13^A).
• Four private individuals in the tier. They are private individuals with no public role we could find, so we did not investigate them and we do not name them (FEC Form 13^A).
• Who is behind Axe Capital Holdings LLC. It gave $250,000 on Dec. 12, 2024 and lists an address at 1172 S Dixie Hwy in Coral Gables, Florida (FEC Form 13^A). That street address is a UPS Store that rents mailboxes, and Campaign Legal Center separately describes the address as “a UPS store” (The UPS Store location page^B; Campaign Legal Center^C). The person or entity behind the gift is untraceable from the filing alone (FEC Form 13^A).
• How many names the Trump-Vance 2025 Transition, Inc. released. That is a separate 501(c)(4) from the inaugural committee; it released a donor list on Nov. 26, 2025 with no per-donor amounts, and outlets disagree by one on the count (GV Wire^B; NBC News^B; Partnership for Public Service^B). We say about 45 to 46 names and about $14 million raised, and we found no copy of the transition’s own list (NBC News^B).
• Further donor amounts at the separate entity. Nothing legally requires further disclosure, so no further amount exists for us to find, and we could not find the LLC’s own formation date (National Park Foundation FAQ^A).
• Whether the Winklevoss gift influenced the CFTC. No source establishes that it did, and we did not read the FEC primary record (Cointelegraph^B).
• The SEC’s own KKR order. We could not read it, so the KKR figures rest on two outlets (Alternatives Watch^B).
• Government-verified outcomes. None are, because the outcome classes are our research tally and not a government finding (FEC Form 13^A).
• Our per-donor table. The full table behind the tally is a research file we have not yet released, and this page links only the cases discussed above.

Sources

Grades: A is a primary record, B is two independent outlets, C is a single source or an interested party, attributed.

• FEC Form 13 raw filing 1889684^A supports every donor, amount and date on this page. We re-parsed it ourselves.
• CNN, April 20, 2025^B supports the prior-record comparison.
• Defense Department contracts announcement, June 16, 2025^A supports the OpenAI agreement. We read it through search because defense.gov refuses scripted fetches.
• Nextgov^B and DefenseScoop^B support the four same-size awards.
• GSA release on OpenAI, Aug. 6, 2025^A and GSA release on Anthropic, Aug. 12, 2025^A support the OneGov deals.
• ONS advocacy news^B supports the menthol-ban withdrawal; our research record shows the Cato Institute, C-Store Dive and FDA Law Blog agreeing on the Jan. 21, 2025 date, which is why we grade it B.
• Federal Register, aluminum derivatives notice^A supports the beer and can tariff item.
• Applied Materials 8-K exhibit^A, BIS settlement documents^A and Manufacturing Dive^B support the penalty.
• Broadband Breakfast on AT&T^B and Broadband Breakfast on Verizon^B support the FCC approvals.
• BlackRock docket^A, Utility Dive^B and FTC statement of interest^A support the antitrust case and its filing date.
• Holland & Knight^B and WLRN^B support the Chevron license sequence.
• Reuters via Yahoo Finance^B, MacRumors^B and Sen. Warren’s release on Cook^A support the Cook and Apple item.
• Houston Public Media^B and Wikipedia on Ken Howery^C support the ambassador items. Wikipedia is a summary source.
• Freedom Holding 10-K note^A supports the Wells Notice and subpoenas.
• FDA warning letter to Hims & Hers^A supports the Hims item.
• Alternatives Watch^B, Financial Planning^B and BCLP summary^B support the KKR sweep.
• Healthcare Brew^B, Fierce Healthcare^B and PCMA’s post^A support the PBM-reform item.
• USDA release on Pilgrim’s Pride^A supports the 2023 settlement.
• FTC press release on Uber^A and Uber docket^A support the lawsuit.
• Federal Register, DOE notice on CP2^A supports the Venture Global orders.
• Compliance Week on Adobe^B supports the Adobe settlement; our record also shows MLex and TechRadar reporting it.
• Nicotine Insider^B, Bloomberg^B, TradingView^B, Bloomberg Law^B and Meat+Poultry^B support the three uncounted cases. We link the news report of the Tyson approval and not the court order.
• BeInCrypto^B, The Block on Kraken^B, Crypto.com announcement^A and The Block on Crypto.com^B support the SEC outcomes.
• Wikipedia on Gary Gensler^C and Wikipedia on OpenSea^C support the counter-explanation. Wikipedia is a summary source, so we grade it C. The SEC press release on the Crypto Task Force^A is a primary record.
• CNN on the Winklevoss gifts^B, Cointelegraph^B and CryptoSlate^C support the MAGA Inc. item.
• Wikipedia on Freedom 250^C, National Park Foundation FAQ^A, Sen. Warren’s Sept. 14 letter^A, Sen. Warren’s Feb. 12 letter^A and NOTUS at The Washington Sun^B support the Freedom 250 item.
• NPR^B, The Hill^B and Snopes^B support the House Democrats’ report.
• The UPS Store location page^B and Campaign Legal Center^C support the mailbox-address note.
• GV Wire^B, NBC News^B and Partnership for Public Service^B support the transition list item.
• Sen. Warren’s Jan. 17, 2025 release^A supports the CEO letter.
• Sludge^B, CREW^B and Campaign Legal Center’s tracker^B are trackers of the same territory.