Congress Must Demand Answers About Trump and Burgum’s Shady “Freedom 250” Pay-To-Play Scheme After NY Times Exposé
Thinly-Veiled Influence Peddling Operation Encapsulates Rampant Corruption Across Administration
HELENA, MT – America250, Congress’ bipartisan celebration commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, has been muzzled and pushed aside in favor of Donald Trump and Doug Burgum’s shady “Freedom 250” celebration, an explicitly political and extreme effort that is ripe for corruption. Members of Congress on the House Natural Resource’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations must use tomorrow’s hearing, titled “All in for America250: Public-Private Partnerships Supporting America’s Semiquincentennial on our Public Lands,” to unpack this scheme and demand accountability.
“‘This is duplicative, wasteful, and a clear ploy to make Donald Trump, not America, the center of attention by hijacking our country’s 250th birthday celebration,” said Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill. “It’s the East Wing-ification of America’s anniversary: bulldozing an existing structure and replacing it with a monument to Trump’s vanity. And just like Trump’s gilded ballroom, ‘Freedom 250’ is just the latest machine to buy access to Trump and his top officials. The United States Congress must hold Interior Secretary Doug Burgum accountable and demand answers about this hijacked effort ripe for insider grift and influence peddling. Americans don’t want our history to be whitewashed and censored by Burgum and Trump’s henchmen.”
This newly propped up, duplicative effort that launched just a few months ago, which has already been funneled at least $10 million in tax dollars, is part of the Trump administration’s coordinated revisionist history and mass censorship campaign led by controversial Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The conflicted and secretive former North Dakota Governor has been one of Trump’s top cheerleading cabinet members. House Natural Resources Democratic committee members are expected to demand answers on the wastefulness, pay-to-play structure, and flow of tax dollars to rightwing nationalist organizations and Trump allies during tomorrow’s hearing, which starts at 10:15 am ET.
Background:
Ten years ago, Congress created the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, named America250, to commemorate our 250th anniversary. Not content to share the spotlight, Trump’s White House created its own effort, Freedom 250, sponsored by groups like Exxon Mobil, as well as far right nationalist organizations PragerU and Hillsdale College. Trump and Burgum’s thinly-veiled influence peddling operation has already received millions in taxpayer dollars, and is soliciting millions more from anonymous donors. Career employees at the Interior Department and elsewhere are likely being made to promote and endorse Freedom 250, which would be a violation of both the Hatch Act and the First Amendment, among other things.
Read more below:
New York Times: For $1 Million, Donors to U.S.A. Birthday Group Offered Access to Trump
President Trump’s allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to a new group supporting flashy initiatives he is planning around the nation’s 250th birthday, according to documents and interviews.
The group, Freedom 250, is threatening to overshadow years of plans meant to reach the broadest cross section of Americans for semiquincentennial celebrations. They are now taking on a Trumpian flare, replete with marble and machismo.
But Freedom 250 has also emerged as another vehicle, akin to the White House ballroom project, through which people and companies with interests before the Trump administration can make tax-deductible donations to gain access to, and seek favor with, a president who has maintained a keen interest in fund-raising, and a willingness to use the levers of government power to reward financial supporters.
Several of Freedom 250’s planned events and monuments lack obvious connections to the Boston Tea Party, the signing of the Declaration of Independence or other seminal moments in the nation’s founding. Rather, they are tailored to Mr. Trump’s political agenda and his penchant for spectacle, personal branding and legacy. They include the construction of an arch overlooking Washington, an IndyCar race through the nation’s capital, a national prayer event and an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn to coincide with the president’s 80th birthday.
Meredith O’Rourke, the president’s top fund-raiser, is amassing private donations for Freedom 250. Her team is circulating a solicitation, obtained by The New York Times, offering “bespoke packages” for donors.
While there are inconsistencies in the solicitation language, the detailed breakdowns of packages for donors indicate that those who give $1 million or more will get invitations to a “private Freedom 250 thank you reception” hosted by Mr. Trump, with a “historic photo opportunity.” Those who give $2.5 million or more also are being offered speaking roles at an event in Washington on July 4.
The effort is reminiscent of fund-raising Mr. Trump has spearheaded since he returned to the Oval Office last year for other groups and projects he has backed, including the ballroom and a supportive super PAC.
While presidents usually dial back their fund-raising in their second terms or focus on helping their party, as they are barred by the Constitution from seeking re-election, Mr. Trump has hosted a series of dinners and gatherings for corporate executives and wealthy individuals who have given millions to his favored causes. Some donors have used the forums to seek favor, and his administration has sometimes given them what they want, though there is no definitive link between government actions and donations.
There is an array of perk packages for prospective donors, according to the solicitation.
Contributors who give at least $500,000 get “V.I.P. access, invitations and preferred seating at all Freedom 250 events.” Those include a prayer gathering called “Rededicate 250”; a Memorial Day event; a “Great American State Fair” over the summer; a July 4 celebration; and a high school athletic competition in the fall, where, Mr. Trump promised in his announcement video, “there will be no men playing in women’s sports.”
“People need to understand that there’s a dual track going on here,” Ms. Watson Coleman said. “And one of the lanes of that endeavor is to get everybody’s story out, and the other is trying to showcase the president and have his ego stroked.”
The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service and other federal lands across the country that will host events related to the semiquincentennial, has instructed agency staff to make Freedom 250 the “primary branding” for government communications on all national birthday events, according to internal communication strategy documents reviewed by The Times.
“Freedom 250 should be the lead identity in most cases.” Employees have been encouraged to update their email signatures to include the Freedom 250 logo.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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