Nadia Prupis – Trump, Who “Can’t Be Bought,” Rewards Big Donors With Cabinet Roles

Dozens of President-elect Donald Trump‘s biggest donors are now being considered for administration positions, and the amount of financial supporters who ended up in his cabinet is “unparalleled in modern presidential history,” Politico reported on Tuesday.

Of the 200 people that Trump has met with since the election, almost a third—73 people—are donors, Politico‘s Isaac Arnsdorf wrote. They contributed a collective $1.7 million to Trump and groups supporting him, and an additional $57.3 million to the rest of the Republican party, according to an analysis of Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records. The average donor gave about $800,000.

Donors made up about 39 percent of the 119 people Trump considered for cabinet appointments so far, and of that number, 38 percent were eventually picked, Arnsdorf writes.

Those include Todd Ricketts, the nominee for deputy secretary of commerce, whose wealthy family gave about $15.7 million to Republicans in the 2016 election; Amway heiress Betsy DeVos, nominee for education secretary, whose family spent $10.4 million this cycle and has donated to some of the senators who will vote on her confirmation; Linda McMahon, nominee to head the Small Business Administration, who gave $6 million to a pro-Trump super PAC; and Andy Puzder, nominee for labor secretary who gave $160,000 to Trump Victory joint fundraising committee.