Benjamin Leon Jr. hustled to a White House security checkpoint Wednesday night. He was running late for a dinner recognizing financial backers of President Trump's new ballroom construction project.

Secret Service officers waved Leon and his wife through.

Once inside, Leon, a wealthy Florida businessman and Mr. Trump's nominee for ambassador to Spain, joined an exclusive guest list of about 130 that included Nvidia's Ned Finkle, Extremity Care's Oliver Burckhardt, Boxabl's Paolo Tiramani and Galiano Tiramani and Coinbase's Kara Calvert.

Representatives from companies that gave major contributions to the ballroom were on the list, including OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and Apple executive Nick Ammann, sources told CBS News.

Some guests arrived in black SUVs with a security team. Afte

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