As Common Dreams reported, a watchdog group filed a lawsuit earlier this month demanding transparency on Freedom 250's funding:
As the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence approaches, a government watchdog group is warning that the Trump administration has refused to release key documents regarding President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 project, in which the White House has partnered with corporations including Palantir and ExxonMobil to organize what it’s called “a celebration of America like no other.”
As they discussed, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a lawsuit against the Department of Interior after initially filing multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding the funding of the Freedom 250 initiative.
In late February, PEER’s FOIA requests sought information from DOI on reports that public funds are being directed to Freedom 250 through the congressionally chartered National Park Foundation, “with no transparency, no accountability, and no guardrails.”
“America’s 250th anniversary celebration is supposed to be an occasion for strengthening public trust in our democratic institutions, not eroding it,” Tim Whitehouse, PEER’s executive director, said late Monday. “In contrast, Freedom 250 is a privately managed slush fund... It epitomizes what is wrong with politics today.”
In its lawsuit, PEER said the DOI “has failed to make a final determination on any of PEER’s FOIA requests and has failed to disclose any of the requested records within the time stipulated under FOIA.”
Democrats are also looking into the organization: Sen. Schiff leads probe into Freedom250, the America birthday group offering access to Trump for donations:
Sen. Adam Schiff of California and a group of fellow Democrats are launching a probe into Freedom 250, a new non-profit group closely aligned with President Donald Trump that is raising private funding for high-profile events surrounding America's 250th birthday this summer. [...]
The New York Times is reporting on allegations that the Freedom250 group is exchanging access to Trump for donations, and concerns have been raised in Congress about the arrangement between the group's donations and their political fundraising.
Schiff's inquiry, first shared with ABC News, raises concerns about the large sums of private donations and alleged "pay-to-play" access implications involved in the Freedom 250 effort.
Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was asked about those concerns on this Sunday's State of the Union on CNN, and of course dismissed calls to disclose the donors:
BASH: But just I hear what you're saying. It shouldn't be partisan, which is why there are lots of questions about why this Freedom 250 organization was created. And maybe it's not partisan, but there are questions from Democrats about where this private funding is coming from and it's not transparent.
Do you think that that should be opened up to the public, so that people see where it's coming from?
BURGUM: I think transparency is always a good thing.
And, of course, I work for the president that I think is the most transparent ever. I mean, who -- there's not a CEO in the country that invites the entire press pool into their board meetings. And we haven't we haven't had a Cabinet meeting in the first 16 months...
BASH: So, you're going to make the donors to Freedom 250 public?
BURGUM: Well, that's up to the Freedom 250 organization and their arrangements with their donors.
BASH: You're a leader right there, right?
BURGUM: The Freedom 250 organization is run out of the White House, but it is not a -- it's not about the transparency of the donors. And it's just -- it is -- again, I'm -- this is about Americans celebrating the 250th anniversary.
And it's -- and it's all -- it's -- again, the fact that we right now have so much to celebrate in our country and we're talking about a single event on a single night in D.C. is...
BASH: Well, no, this is about -- Freedom 250, as you know better than I, is governing a lot of these events. And I think that Americans want to be able to celebrate and make -- and be confident that the money is coming from a place that makes sense.
It's another giant grift and a way for Trump to once again line his pockets. Republicans would have impeached a Democratic president for a tiny fraction of what this crook has bilked all of us for since he's been in office, but with Trump they all just pretend it's business as usual.
