Two competing organizations are battling for control of America's 250th anniversary celebrations, with the Donald Trump-backed Freedom 250 raising serious corruption concerns by offering presidential access to $1 million donors while commingling taxpayer funds with private money.
America250, the congressionally mandated bipartisan commission established a decade ago, has dutifully overseen traditional anniversary programming, but it has been systematically sidelined by Freedom 250, a White House-launched public-private partnership that has captured public attention through flashy initiatives funded by federal dollars, reported the Washington Post.
“The Trump administration’s latest venture, Freedom 250, continues to raise serious and troubling questions about whether access to the president or official government events is for sale to the highest bidders,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). “And if the administration is commingling taxpayer dollars with other funds in an unaccountable private entity run by the president’s allies, it is an open invitation for corruption. We need answers.”
Freedom 250's programming reflects Trump's personal priorities rather than national commemoration. "Freedom Trucks" — six customized semitrucks with conservative educational content — traverse red states on $10 million in federal funds. A "Freedom Plane" tours the country with historic documents. Planned events include a national prayer service on the National Mall, an IndyCar race, and a UFC fight outside the White House on Trump's birthday.
The Treasury transferred a $10 million grant intended for America250's Freedom Trucks program to Freedom 250, effectively funneling congressionally appropriated funds to Trump's personal project.
Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, has called for a congressional investigation into a recent New York Times report that Freedom 250 donors were offered access to the president if they gave $1 million or more, but Freedom 250 spokeswoman Rachel Reisner referred questions about federal funding to the Interior Department.
[The president] “is deeply grateful for the support of his donors, but unlike the politicians of the past, he can’t be bought,” Reisner said in a statement. “As we approach this historic milestone in our nation’s founding, we will not be deterred by any partisan outrage or political theater."
The conservative media organization PragerU volunteered to produce all video and educational content for the Freedom Trucks after White House officials developed a vision for the project and worked with the right-wing Hillsdale College to develop the displays, but PragerU chief executive Marissa Streit insisted the exhibits would show a balanced view of history.
“I believe we need to teach and talk about both the negative things that have happened in our country as well as the positive,” she said.
Ethics expert Richard Painter said the tensions are starkly different from the approach taken during the 1976 bicentennial under President Gerald Ford, who was mindful of impropriety following the Watergate scandal.
“The one thing our taxpayer funds should not be used for is politicizing the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country,” said Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “One of the things [the founders] were most afraid of is faction and political parties destroying our democracy. The celebrations here shouldn’t be owned by one political party or another.”