Record donations raised for Donald Trump's 2nd presidential inauguration

By Zeynep Katre Oran

WASHINGTON (AA) - Donations raised for the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony of US President-elect Donald Trump have topped $170 million, setting a new record, according to official figures.

The inaugural committee for the returning president, expecting to raise over $200 million by Jan. 20, said any surplus funds from the event will be used for a future presidential library.

The funds are typically used to cover the costs of various events surrounding the presidential inauguration, such as the parade and ball.

The massive amount collected by Trump’s inaugural committee so far is more than double the nearly $62 million raised by current President Joe Biden for his inauguration four years ago, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Donations to Trump’s first inauguration in 2016 totaled nearly $107 million.

Following Trump’s victory in November, giving him a ticket back to the White House for a second term after Biden’s four years in office, tech companies have been making donations for the president-elect's inauguration.

Web retail giant Amazon and Meta, the owner of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, have donated $1 million each to Trump’s fund designated for the inauguration ceremony.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and the developer of the AI chatbot ChatGPT, also stated his intention to make a personal donation of $1 million.

"In the first term, everyone was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend," Trump told reporters last month, a trend seen in inaugural donations.

Some political analysts have voiced concern over billionaires apparently trying to curry favor with the incoming president, saying the huge donations and pilgrimages to win over Trump may usher in a new era of money dominating US politics.

*Writing by Asiye Latife Yilmaz in Istanbul