Donated money to Trump – got top job

TT

Published 08.42

 

Steve Witkoff donated money to Donald Trump. Now he has a job as a top diplomat in the administration. Archive photo. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/TT

A list of 46 people who have donated money to Donald Trump has been published. Several of the donors have become ministers or have been given other high-ranking positions in the state apparatus.

The Trump administration claims that the donations are a way to save taxpayer money.

The donations apply to the transition period from Donald Trump winning the election to his swearing in as president. Unlike Sweden, the US state administration is largely made up of party-loyal officials, which can make the work of replacing the approximately 4,000 people affected in state institutions when the country changes administrations difficult – and costly.

Now The New York Times reveals that several people who donated money to the transition period have been given prominent positions by Donald Trump.

Top diplomats and ministers

Steve Witkoff, among others, is on the list of donors. Witkoff is the Trump administration's special envoy to the Middle East, but has also been given a prominent role in the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

In addition, Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, and Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, are on the same list.

In the judiciary, Stanley Woodward Jr., the third-highest-ranking official in the Justice Department, and Dominick Gerace II, who was sworn in as Ohio's district attorney, are donors to Trump's transition period.

The current Trump administration has not signed the customary agreement that caps donations at $5,000 and makes them public. Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles has said that the decision not to sign is a way to "save taxpayers' hard-earned money."

“Hiding Who’s Buying the Government”

But the decision has been criticized. Interest groups have warned that the lack of transparency in how the latest transition was handled has made it impossible for the public to see if there are any conflicts of interest within the government.

“They claimed they were saving taxpayers’ money, but what they were really doing was hiding who’s buying the government,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service in The New York Times.