On March 12, 2026, a fundraising email paid for by Never Surrender Inc., Trump's primary leadership PAC, offered supporters a “National Security Briefing Membership.” Written in Trump's voice and sent from an address on the Trump-owned donaldjtrump.com domain, it promised: “As a National Security Briefing Member, you'll receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America. The straight truth on border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.”
The email told recipients to “claim your spot” through multiple donation links and said “These final spots are reserved for my strongest supporters.” CNN and Military Times reported that it featured an official White House photograph of Trump saluting at the March 7 dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base of six soldiers killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, among the first U.S. deaths of the Iran war. Snopes confirmed the email was authentic but noted it gave no details on how the briefings would be delivered, what donation was required, or whether anything shared would be classified; the White House did not answer its questions.
At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on March 18, Sen. Mark Kelly read the email aloud and asked whether donors should get such briefings. CIA Director John Ratcliffe answered, “I don't know what that document is. But regardless what it says, it didn't happen,” adding that the Hatch Act would bar him from taking part and that “I'm not aware that anything like that happened.” Kelly said the Hatch Act should prohibit this kind of conduct.
There is no evidence that donors received any intelligence. The concern is the pitch itself: a president's political operation marketing access to his national security briefings to raise money, in the middle of a war, using an image from a ceremony for the war dead.
Correction (October 2, 2026): An earlier version dated the email to March 13 and said it “effectively monetized the presidency's access to classified intelligence.” The email went out on Thursday, March 12, according to Snopes and Military Times, and the record shows no intelligence was shared: the email did not say the briefings would be classified, and the CIA director testified that no such briefings happened. The date was corrected, the classified-intelligence claim was removed, and the Ratcliffe testimony was added.