Corporate titans who showered President Donald Trump with cash are quietly bracing for payback should Democrats seize the House after the midterms.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, a cluster of major companies, many of them tech firms, that poured millions into Trump's pet projects and political operations has begun preparing for a possible wave of congressional probes. Some are standing up internal task forces to rehearse their answers to subpoenas and information demands, while others are cutting fresh checks to Democrats and staffing up with the party's former operatives, anonymous insiders told The Journal.
Meta recently steered $5 million apiece to two nonprofits tied to House and Senate Democratic leadership, according to The Journal. Paramount, the media network that controls CBS and streamed Trump's White House UFC fight, has brought on a former legislative director to President Joe Biden. The prediction-market firm Kalshi has hired ex-aides to Barack Obama and Biden. OpenAI chief Sam Altman spent the summer hosting Washington dinners for Democratic lawmakers.
"Get right with God," Democratic strategist and Silicon Valley donor adviser Cooper Teboe told The Journal, summing up his advice to companies that have been cozying up to Trump and ignoring Democrats.
"You're going to be totally f— next year, or you're going to figure it out this year," Teboe said. "And you're going to make amends—and amends are going to be much more costly than they were previously."
Executives from Meta and Palantir have discussed the likelihood that they will face requests for information, future congressional hearings, and even subpoenas, insiders told The Journal.
With Trump in the White House for two more years, executives expect his administration to stonewall any Democratic oversight requests. That leaves the businesses themselves as the softest targets, since they have less room to ignore a summons from Capitol Hill, The Journal noted.