PHOTO: REUTERS
US senator probes tech ballroom donors and FCC chief over records
· The Straits Times- Senator Richard Blumenthal warned tech donors to Donald Trump’s ballroom project and FCC Chair Brendan Carr to hand over documents or face possible subpoenas in January.
- He said Carr’s actions on media cases and the Paramount Skydance merger “erode and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press”.
- The probe targets firms with business before the Trump administration, after reports that Apple and Nvidia each gave US$25 million and other major donors also gave large sums.
WASHINGTON – The top Democrat on the Senate investigative panel demanded on Nov 5 the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and tech companies that donated to US President Donald Trump’s ballroom voluntarily turn over documents or face possible subpoenas in January.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is set to take over as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, called on Apple, Meta, Google, Nvidia, Amazon.com, Microsoft and others who donated to the ballroom project to turn over records, as he sent warnings to targets of a number of different probes.
Blumenthal also called on FCC Chair Brendan Carr to turn over documents about his agency’s handling of investigations into media companies and approval of the Paramount Skydance merger in 2025, and criticised Carr’s decision to order an early license review of Disney’s eight company-owned ABC stations.
The demands are an early sign of how Democrats plan to use their power to compel or subpoena documents once they take control in January, as they look into donations from companies with business before the Trump administration. Major companies and the Trump administration have ignored or not provided documents in response to investigations over the last two years.
Carr and the tech companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Blumenthal said Carr’s actions “erode and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press and bear on the laws governing media consolidation”.
He told Carr and the tech companies if they do not turn over documents when Democrats take control in January, “it will leave the subcommittee with no choice but to consider alternative measures to obtain compliance”.
Nvidia and Apple each committed US$25 million (S$32 million) for the ballroom, out of US$333 million in private donations for the project, the Washington Post reported in October.
“Many of the donors have deep financial, business, or other personal interests before the Administration,” Blumenthal wrote the tech firms in 2025.
Other recipients of letters for reported donations include Comcast, BlackRock, Booz Allen, Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, Salesforce, HP, Lockheed Martin, Micron, Palantir Technologies and Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network.
The Adelson family, longtime financial supporters of Trump and his Republican Party, committed US$25 million as well, as did Ergen, the Post reported.
Federal contractors including Lockheed Martin, Microsoft and Palantir all gave US$10 million, the Post reported. Blumenthal also sent letters to cryptofirms and the Homeland Security Department about other probes. REUTERS