News: Palantir CEO Alex Karp will address Speaker Mike Johnson’s annual big-donor retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., next week, multiple sources familiar with the schedule told us.
Karp is among the highest-profile attendees expected at the event next week. Karp will discuss “growth versus gridlock.” Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who will be appearing in his personal capacity, will speak about energy dominance.
Katherine Boyle, who leads the “American Dynamism” practice for Andreessen Horowitz, will be on a panel with House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.). The discussion will be about defense, tech and securing the homeland.
NRCC Chair Richard Hudson and CLF President Chris Winkelman will participate in a conversation on the midterm elections.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso will participate in a panel discussion about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
CLF, the House Republican leadership-linked super PAC, will hold parallel programming featuring several Trump-linked political advisers, according to sources familiar with the planning.
The Jackson Hole event has been a staple of House Republican politics for years. Typically, the top House Republican holds the August summit as a way to court big donors who cut six-figure checks. John Boehner started the event, and every Republican leader since — Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy — have put the confab on. The retreat is Monday and Tuesday next week.
Palantir’s Washington power. Karp, 57, is the cofounder of Palantir, which Forbes declared Thursday is “one of the world’s 25 most valuable companies.” Karp, the CEO, has a personal fortune of $15.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Karp has given to both parties this cycle. He’s cut checks to Democrats including Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.).
Karp also donated $250,000 to Texans for a Conservative Majority, a super PAC backing Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) re-election campaign, as well as giving $110,515 to Cornyn’s victory committee. Karp donated $310,100 to the NRCC, $360,000 to Grow the Majority — a Johnson joint fundraising committee — and $26,800 to Hudson.
Top Trump administration tech figures have ties to Palantir. David Sacks, the Silicon Valley investor who is now White House AI and crypto czar, put money into Palantir early on. Michael Kratsios, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, worked closely with Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, as did Vice President JD Vance.
Palantir Co-Founder Joe Lonsdale also backed Trump through Elon Musk’s super-PAC.
Looking ahead. Palantir is poised to grow its already sizable government contracting. The Army recently awarded the firm a mega-contract that could be worth $10 billion.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is looking to pivot away from developing software in-house or having traditional aerospace firms and Beltway-area consultants do the job. The Defense Department is hoping Silicon Valley and venture capital portfolio firms can fill the gap. (Andreessen and Horowitz have a similar opportunity there.)
The Denver-based Palantir spent $1.64 million lobbying in the second quarter of 2025. The company employs a host of top lobbyists in addition to an in-house staff, including Miller Strategies, run by GOP megalobbyist Jeff Miller; Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where Bart Reising, a former top aide to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is on the account; Ballard Partners, Brian Ballard’s firm; and Invariant, run by Democratic uber lobbyist Heather Podesta.
Much of Palantir’s lobbying is aimed at procurement, the annual defense authorization, artificial intelligence for national security and related issues, according to disclosures. But Palantir’s also keeping an eye on other government programs, including pandemic data, the fight against fraud at the IRS or even the use of the company’s products in hospitals.
