Freedom 250, a private entity raising money for the White House's 250th-anniversary celebrations (including the June 14 UFC event on the South Lawn), has been offering wealthy donors access to the president in exchange for large contributions. Donors who give $1 million or more are invited to a “private Freedom 250 thank you reception” hosted by Trump that includes a “historic photo opportunity.” Donors of $2.5 million or more were offered speaking roles at a July 4 event in Washington.
In late May 2026, Sens. Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren and colleagues opened a probe, requesting a complete list of Freedom 250's individual and corporate donors and the amounts and dates. They warned that “linking private contributions 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” and may implicate federal bribery, conflict-of-interest, or ethics statutes.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington separately flagged that some corporate donors to the fund have business pending before the Trump administration. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum dismissed calls to disclose the donor list. The fund is the money engine behind the same 250th programming that has already drawn scrutiny (see Trump Cancels the Freedom 250 Concerts After Performers Pull Out and Makes Himself the Headliner of 'the Greatest Rally, EVER!', Trump Is Building a 5,000-Seat UFC Cage on the White House South Lawn to Celebrate His 80th Birthday and America's 250th).
In a letter released September 14, 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Alex Padilla and Richard Blumenthal demanded Freedom 250 disclose its donors, writing that it “appears to be yet another slush fund for wealthy corporations and insiders to buy influence with the White House.” Of the corporate sponsors listed on its website, the letter said, only United Airlines, RTX and Chevron disclosed their contributions under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. United gave $2.5 million in March; on July 29, Trump announced a $22.5 billion rebuild of Washington Dulles, where United has a 68.5 percent passenger share. RTX gave $1.5 million in May after Trump singled out the company in January, and later won Navy contracts of $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion. Chevron gave $5 million on May 28. TikTok, which is not a listed sponsor, reportedly gave $2 million. The senators acknowledged the limits of what they can show: without full disclosure, “we are left to guess about any connections between a company's donation and any benefit potentially derived from that gift.” They asked for answers by September 28.