Updated Feb. 12, 2026, 9:28 p.m. ET
As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary in a matter of months, some have raised worries about transparency and politicization they say is hanging over the organization President Donald Trump created to support his flashy plans for the celebration.
Congressional Democrats and watchdog groups have in recent days raised concerns that the group, Freedom 250, created as a subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, lacks transparency, skirts federal rules and allows companies and wealthy individuals to buy access to the president’s office.
Members of the House of Representatives on Feb. 10 probed leaders of the Park Foundation during a public hearing after The New York Times reported allegations that Freedom 250 is exchanging access to Trump for donations.
In exchange for donations ranging from $1 million to nearly $10 million, groups giving to Freedom 250 were offered an array of perks, including an “invitation to a private Freedom 250 thank you reception hosted by President Donald J. Trump” and speaking opportunities at major events, according to the Times.
Now, in a new letter sent Feb. 11, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is requesting the Trump administration provide transparency about Freedom 250’s donors, fundraising practices and governance structure.
“Linking private contributions – explicitly or implicitly – to invitations to White House events, photo ops, ceremonial roles, or other forms of access unavailable to the general public, raises serious concerns about the auctioning of government activities,” Schiff wrote to Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.
He suggested such efforts could violate bribery, conflict of interest, and ethics statutes.
The White House did not directly respond to emailed questions about whether it plans to comply with Schiff’s request for information. “It’s a complete disgrace that Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff is willing to trash the United States of America during its semi quincentennial celebration simply because he hates President Trump,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, instead, in an emailed statement.
Freedom 250 has so far listed several sponsors on its website, including Exxon Mobile, Mastercard, Deloitte, Palantir and IndyCar, among others. But Schiff and other Democrat have suggested the organizations’ opaque structure could allow other organizations to donate without oversight.
America250, a separate nonpartisan group established by Congress more than a decade ago to plan programming around the anniversary, has also solicited donors using sponsorship packages, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY.
For as little as $500,000, donors to America250 can become a “Liberty Partner” and receive “invitations and reserved seating” at events, the sponsorship opportunities suggest. For $5,000,000 donors receive a seat on the America250 Advisory Council, invites to events with “top leaders and influencers” and recognition at receptions “attended by Members of Congress, administration officials, Supreme Court Justices, and Governors,” among other perks.
Freedom 250’s opaque structure
Among Democrats and government watchdog groups’ chief concerns with Freedom 250 is the group’s lack of transparency, inherent in its structure.
Trump created Freedom 250 in December as a subsidiary of the National Park Foundation to fund his vision for the country’s milestone birthday, outside of efforts being planned by America250. The organization describes itself as nonpartisan.
In his letter, Schiff said Freedom 250 appeared “to operate alongside, and in some cases overlap with, America250,” making it “imperative” that the public understand how it was operating and accepting donations.
Freedom 250 and Freedom 250 are nonprofit organization not subject to the same financial disclosure requirements as federal agencies.
Donors to Freedom 250 can ask to remain anonymous. And the organization may accept any gift, even if it is “subject to beneficial interests of private persons,” so long as it benefits the National Park Service in some way, according to the Park’s Foundation’s 1967 charter.
Last year, Trump added Chris LaCavita, a former adviser to his 2024 campaign, and Meredith O’Rourke, one of his key fundraisers, to the Park Foundation board.
“The issue is there’s no accountability. There’s no transparency. There’s no guardrails. There’s no oversight,” Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said of the way the organization accepts donations during the congressional hearing.
Jeff Reinbold, president and CEO of the Park Foundation, told members of Congress that the organization would disclose donors to Freedom 250 donors in its 2027 tax filings. It would not include those who requested anonymity.
In response to worries floated by some members of Congress, Freedom 250 Spokesperson Rachel Reisner told USA TODAY the group had not and was not taking foreign donations.
Schiff in his letter to Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles requested information on O’Rourke’s role in 250th fundraising efforts and a complete list of all individual and corporate donors, among other information.
Taxpayer dollars at stake
In addition to raising private donations, Freedom 250 is also sharing taxpayer funds with America250. Reinbold said the Park Foundation holds taxpayer money and donations given to Freedom 250, almost like a bank, and disperses it at the request of the Park Service.
Some watchdog groups, including the Center for Western Priorities, have expressed concern those funds are being used to push a conservative, right-wing view of America during the commemoration.
Congress in 2025 allocated $150 million for the Department of the Interior to distribute, as it saw fit, to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary. The agency allocated $50 million of that money to America250, and $100 million to Freedom 250, according to a source familiar with the transaction. To date, America250 has received only $25 million, less than it had expected to receive by this time, according to the source.
Freedom 250 has so far spent $10 million retrofitting six tractor-trailer trucks with mobile history exhibits created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a private conservative Christian school, and PragerU, a conservative media organization. It allocated more than $270, 000 to Event Strategies Inc., the group that planned the January 6 rally held on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.
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