Trump's Freedom 250 asks for another $10M in taxpayer funds
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is seeking an additional $10 million of taxpayer money for Freedom 250’s grand celebrations honoring the country’s semiquincentennial, drawing fresh questions about how the group spent millions in previous public and private funding.
In a July 29 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, said Congress received the request earlier in the month for “an unspecified amount of funding” to help Freedom 250 “recoup costs” in a broader Trump administration budget request.
A meeting between Merkley’s office and the Interior Department later revealed that the agency was asking for $10 million to reimburse the National Parks Service for “routine costs” associated with events on the National Mall, including the Christianity-dominated Rededicate 250 prayer event, the Great American State Fair, and the July 4th Salute to America, Merkley wrote.
The request suggested that Freedom 250 already spent more than a $100 million in taxpayer and private dollars it previously received, Merkley said in his letter.
“Congress has already provided substantial funding for these activities,” he wrote. “It is unacceptable to ask the American people to bail out Freedom 250.”
Congress allocated $150 million for the Department of the Interior to distribute, as it saw fit, for the country’s 250th anniversary in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Interior gave $50 million of that to America250, the congressionally created group tasked with planning the celebration, and $100 million to Trump’s Freedom 250 group.
Freedom 250 also solicited donations from private corporations, including Exxon Mobile, Mastercard, Deloitte, and Palantir. Those efforts came under scrutiny this year after Democrats questioned whether the administration was offering preferential policy treatment in exchange for contributions.
America250 declined to comment on whether it had received all of the $50 million. "We have received a portion of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act funds to date, and remain in conversations with Congress for our funding requests," the organization said in an emailed statement. As of February, America250 said it had only received $25 million of the funds.
In an email to USA TODAY, the Interior Department said the request for additional funds reflects expenditures related to an “elevated security posture” at events after the security breach at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April and other high-profile threats.
Public disclosures of Freedom 250's finances, the amount raised in private donations and how it spent that money will not be available until after the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The Trump administration created Freedom 250 as a subsidiary of the National Parks Foundation, a congressionally-chartered nonprofit. The structure of the organization allows it to bypass traditional, immediate disclosure laws federal agencies must abide by.
Freedom 250 has spent at least $10 million retrofitting tractor-trailer trucks into mobile history exhibits that have been accused of presenting an inaccurate, Christian-focused depiction of the country’s past. It also paid Event Strategies Inc., the group that planned President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally, hundreds of thousands of dollars to plan 250 events.
Members of Congress, including Merkley, have asked the Department of Interior on multiple occassions for information about how Freedom 250 spent the $100 million in taxpayer funding, private donor information, and costs incurred related to 250 events.
As of July 30, Interior has not yet publicly responded to those requests.
When reached for comment about the funding request, Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said "Democrats are trying to make America's 250th birthday about partisan politics."
"Their divisive rhetoric forced Freedom 250 to increase security at these events, but we won't let them stop us from honoring our country's milestone," she said. "This is just another attempt to divide us, and it won't work."
Freedom 250 has two more events left before the end of the year: the Patriot Games, a nationwide high school athletic competition on Aug. 9-11 at Spire Academy in Ohio, and an IndyCar race around the National Mall on Aug. 22-23.
Karissa Waddick covers America's 250th anniversary for USA TODAY. She can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's Freedom 250 asks for another $10M in taxpayer funds