Sordid new details are coming out about how President Donald Trump and his allies hijacked the bipartisan "America250" celebration approved by Congress and siphoned off its money to alternative celebration planning entities under his own control.
According to The Atlantic's Michael Scherer, newly obtained documents behind the scenes of Trump taking over the event "described frayed trust and growing conflict that has become so acrimonious that the Department of Interior is refusing to honor a December agreement with America250" to transfer $50 million in funding.
Officials in the Trump administration proclaimed they will not do so because “Spending taxpayer money on frivolous, poorly attended events and D.C. consultants who are trying to get rich off America’s 250th is the exact opposite of what was intended. This administration will not light taxpayer money on fire. Full stop,” according to the report.
This has left lawmakers and event organizers in both parties frustrated, with one America250 commissioner telling Scherer, “This is straight out of It’s a Wonderful Life, when Henry Potter steals George Bailey’s money and tries to drive him to the brink."
Trump officials, for their part, see it as the president's rightful duty to put on the festivities and resent that America250 hasn't fully handed the reins to them, with longtime MAGA strategist Chris LaCivita saying the group “can’t get over the fact that Trump won.”
All of this comes amid a series of reports detailing how the events Trump is putting on are floundering — most notably, his "Freedom 250" music festival that featured a long list of performers either pulling out or clarifying they were never part of the event in the first place despite being advertised.
It also comes as Trump's prized project of hosting a UFC fight on the White House lawn is now facing litigation from veteran activists in Washington, D.C.