WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:04.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: President-elect Trump's inaugural committee has smashed fundraising records, 00:04.400 --> 00:09.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% racking up more than $200 million in pledges. Donations have come from leaders of big tech, 00:10.766 --> 00:13.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% financial services and telecommunications. Some of 00:13.866 --> 00:18.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% those companies have big federal contracts or are regulated by the federal government. 00:20.766 --> 00:23.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Ali Rogan spoke with Craig Holman, an expert on ethics and campaign finance 00:23.133 --> 00:28.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% rules for Public Citizen, and Cecilia Kang, who covers technology for the New York Times. 00:30.466 --> 00:33.766 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% ALI ROGIN: Thank you both so much for being here. Craig, you've put together a research document on 00:36.166 --> 00:39.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% the Trump-Vance inaugural Committee fundraising. How much have they raised and who's donating? 00:41.100 --> 00:43.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CRAIG HOLMAN, Government Affairs Lobbyist, Public Citizen: It's shattering all records 00:43.466 --> 00:47.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% this time around. You know, the Trump Inaugural committee originally targeted $150 million to 00:49.500 --> 00:54.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% spend on the inauguration, which by itself would break records. Then it upped it to 200 00:54.300 --> 00:59.266 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% million because money just started flowing in. And today we know it's going to be around 250 million. 01:00.866 --> 01:04.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And it shatters not only all records in terms of spending, 01:04.300 --> 01:09.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but also in terms of donations. The donations that we're aware of at this point are all $1 01:11.366 --> 01:15.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% million to $5 million from the same donors who used to give to previous inaugurations, 01:17.366 --> 01:22.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Trump's first one. But back then it was in amounts of maybe 50,000 or 100,000. 01:24.233 --> 01:27.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% ALI ROGIN: You mentioned that it's some of the same folks. So who tends to be high on the list? 01:30.033 --> 01:33.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CRAIG HOLMAN: Well, at top of this list is the cryptocurrency industry. So we've got ripple, 01:35.200 --> 01:38.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that's given 5 million, you got Coinbase, it's given 1 million. You've got Kraken, 01:40.500 --> 01:43.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that's given 1 million. And you know, they never gave those kinds of money before. As 01:45.733 --> 01:49.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% a matter of fact, the cryptocurrency industry rarely even invested in politics until 2020. 01:52.100 --> 01:56.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: Cecilia, which tech moguls are we expecting to see at the inauguration tomorrow? 01:56.166 --> 01:59.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And what do we know about what they might be looking to get out of this new relationship? 01:59.866 --> 02:04.833 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% CECILIA KANG, The New York Times: Just about every major tech CEO will be at the inauguration, 02:07.200 --> 02:10.666 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% many of whom will also be sitting on the dais with President-elect Donald Trump. We know on the day, 02:12.600 --> 02:16.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it's actually very interesting. The three richest people in the world, Elon Musk, 02:16.833 --> 02:21.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% the founder of Tesla and the owner of X, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, 02:23.633 --> 02:26.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% and Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Meta, formerly known as Facebook, 02:26.733 --> 02:31.000 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% they'll all be sitting on the dais. We also have the CEOs of Google, Apple, 02:31.000 --> 02:36.000 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% OpenAI, a very big and hot AI company, as well as the CEO of TikTok, who will be sitting there. 02:37.666 --> 02:40.433 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% So the question is really more so who won't be there from the tech 02:40.433 --> 02:44.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% industry? The Silicon Valley is really taking over Washington this weekend. 02:44.266 --> 02:49.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: And of course, the use of money and presence to influence policy 02:51.400 --> 02:55.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% is a time honored tradition in Washington. But this does seem to be at a new level and 02:56.966 --> 02:59.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% at the same time we've seen a number of changes that these companies have made. 02:59.066 --> 03:02.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Meta just replaced its fact checking program. They're instead going to rely 03:02.600 --> 03:06.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% on users to monitor content. President Trump is launching a cryptocurrency. 03:06.900 --> 03:10.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% What are the tech stories that you're looking at that are going to be big as 03:10.133 --> 03:13.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% we enter this administration? And how might these players be trying 03:13.900 --> 03:17.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% to parliament lay these donations into influence in these early days? 03:17.233 --> 03:19.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CECILIA KANG: So I'm really interested in AI policy, 03:19.633 --> 03:23.100 align:left position:30% line:71% size:60% what's going to happen in the world of artificial intelligence and how the incoming 03:23.100 --> 03:28.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% administration is expected to really support and promote American AI companies. That's one 03:30.166 --> 03:34.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% reason why a lot of these tech CEOs are very enthusiastic about Trump coming into office. 03:34.200 --> 03:38.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The other thing I'm looking into is how President-elect Trump deals with speech 03:38.733 --> 03:42.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% policies and whether he will take away legal protections for social 03:42.333 --> 03:47.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% media companies whom he has criticized in the past. This is one of another reason why CEOs 03:49.466 --> 03:52.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% like Mark Zuckerberg are very interested and concerned about Trump coming into the office 03:52.866 --> 03:57.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% because they're afraid that there will be some sort of retribution or punishment of 03:57.633 --> 04:02.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% their companies and their social media sites that conservatives and Republican lawmakers 04:04.300 --> 04:07.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% as well as Trump have criticized for allegedly censoring their content. 04:09.800 --> 04:12.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: Craig, after the inauguration and all the related festivities are over, 04:12.333 --> 04:15.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what happens to the money that's left over and what does the law say about it? 04:15.166 --> 04:19.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CRAIG HOLMAN: There is no restriction on how the surplus money gets spent and there is 04:19.866 --> 04:24.866 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% no disclosure. If Trump doesn't want to tell us how he spent the surplus money, 04:26.066 --> 04:28.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% we aren't going to know what happened to it. 04:28.066 --> 04:32.666 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% When it comes to the inaugural funding, there are so few rules in place. One, 04:32.666 --> 04:37.666 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% only two. One, foreign nationals can't make a donation. And the second is we 04:39.700 --> 04:43.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% find out after sometime in the spring, the donors of $200 or more. We don't know how 04:45.200 --> 04:49.866 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% the money gets spent. We don't know what happens to the surplus funds. And quite 04:49.866 --> 04:54.866 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% frankly we there is no restriction on how Trump dispenses the surplus funds. 04:56.266 --> 04:57.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% ALI ROGIN: And I know that there's been long standing 04:57.833 --> 05:00.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% efforts to change this. What's the status of those efforts? 05:00.066 --> 05:03.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CRAIG HOLMAN: There have been. And the bills to try to require disclosure of expenditures, 05:03.933 --> 05:08.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to ban corporate contributions and government contractors has never gone very far. But this 05:11.500 --> 05:16.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% time around, we're seeing the abuses of this inauguration of such a level that 05:19.700 --> 05:24.700 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% I'm suspecting the same legislation that we couldn't move before might get legs this time. 05:25.900 --> 05:27.833 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% ALI ROGIN: Craig Holman with Public Citizen, 05:27.833 --> 05:30.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Cecilia Kang with the New York Times, thank you both so much for joining us. 05:30.800 --> 05:31.800 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% CRAIG HOLMAN: Thank you. CECILIA KANG: Thank you.