On July 2, 2026, Democratic staff on the House Natural Resources Committee released a report alleging that people who tried to donate to America250, the bipartisan commission Congress created to plan the country's 250th birthday, were instead given banking and routing information that sent their money to a different, similarly named group backed by Trump: Freedom 250.
The two entities are easy to confuse, which is the heart of the concern. America250, officially the United States Semiquincentennial Commission, was established in 2016 under a law signed by President Obama and is meant to be nonpartisan. Freedom 250 is a limited liability company created in late 2025 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, set up to serve the president's priorities, and it is the group running Trump's Great American State Fair. According to the report, a gift solicited in the name of the nation's nonpartisan birthday commission could be redirected to the Trump-aligned group without the donor's knowledge, conduct the report said could amount to “potential wire fraud and charitable solicitation fraud.” The report does not specify how much money, if any, was diverted.
Federal records show $68 million has flowed from the Department of the Interior to the National Park Foundation, which can distribute the funds to Freedom 250. Freedom 250's sponsorship packages, the report notes, dangled VIP event access, speaking roles at the national Fourth of July celebration, and an “historic photo opportunity” with Trump for donors who hit certain benchmarks. A Freedom 250 spokesperson, Danielle Alvarez, called the report's claims “categorically false.” The allegation comes from Democratic committee staff and has not been tested in court (see Trump's 'Great American State Fair' Draws Sparse Crowds as He Claims 45,000 and Posts a Pre-Dawn Defense).