Jeffrey Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man, helped bankroll Donald Trump’s $14 million presidential transition
Jeffrey Yass is on a list of 46 donors that contributed to President Donald Trump's transition team, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Pennsylvania’s richest man contributed an undisclosed amount to President Donald Trump’s presidential transition, which raised slightly more than $14 million.
Jeffrey Yass, a billionaire GOP megadonor, appeared on a list of 46 individuals — obtained by the New York Times and published Wednesday — who helped bankroll Trump’s transition. The publication of the list came a full year after Trump publicly promised to disclose the donors.
The transition team said it spent $13.7 million, according to the Times.
Yass’ name appearing on the list of donors was not shocking, as the billionaire has frequently used his financial capital to support Republican candidates both in Pennsylvania and nationally.
He contributed at least $2.5 million to Trump’s controversial White House ballroom while he and his Bala Cynwyd-based company, Susquehanna International Group, have business in front of the Trump administration. Yass is a major investor in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, and Trump has used executive orders to delay a ban of the Chinese-owned social media app passed by Congress under former President Joe Biden.
Yass’ current net worth, as of Wednesday, is an estimated $65.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who cochaired Trump’s transition team and is Haverford College’s largest donor, also donated to the transition.
“President Trump greatly appreciates his supporters and donors; however, unlike politicians of the past, he is not bought by anyone and does what’s in the best interest of the country,” Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, said in a statement to the Times. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
There had been a back-and-forth as to whether the Trump transition team would release the names of the donors, and transition officials refused to sign an agreement that caps individual donations at $5,000 and prohibits foreign donations. The agreement with the General Services Administration would have required the publication of names of contributors and donation amount within 30 days of the inauguration.
Prior administrations, including the first Trump administration, had signed this agreement.