The United States of America turns 250 years old this week. There should be parades, history lessons, and a moment when the nation looks at itself honestly in the mirror. Instead, there is a fire sale. A congressional report released Thursday reveals that President Donald Trump and his inner circle have carried out what one Democratic lawmaker called a “hostile takeover” of the country’s semiquincentennial celebration, turning a once-in-a-generation civic milestone into a cash machine for political allies, a propaganda operation, and a venue for selling access to the most powerful man on earth.
The House Democratic subcommittee report, issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud, and pay-to-play schemes surrounding the events known collectively as “Freedom 250.” At the center of the operation is a private, Trump-aligned organization that has siphoned more than $100 million in federal tax dollars away from the official, bipartisan America250 commission established by Congress in 2016. The money was diverted into a shadow fundraising network controlled by Trump insiders.
“You hijacked the country’s 250th anniversary to sell access, hide your donors, and rewrite history,” Representative Jared Huffman, the California Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, said. “You siphoned off $100 million of taxpayer money to bankroll propaganda, as the administration replaces the real story of our history with a whitewashed fantasy.”
The report traces how the congressional commission, America250, was systematically defunded and sidelined. Congress had expected the commission to receive approximately $100 million for nonpartisan celebrations. It received only $25 million. The remaining federal money was redirected to Freedom 250 LLC, a private entity created by Trump allies with no congressional mandate and no obligation to disclose its donors.
Freedom 250 is run by figures including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, 2024 campaign manager Chris LaCivita, and former campaign finance director Meredith O’Rourke. LaCivita made the political intention clear earlier this year. “America250 can’t get over the fact that Trump won,” he said. “They want to apologize for America’s 250th. We don’t.”
Since October 2025, the administration has awarded nearly $103 million in federal contracts and grants to entities under the control of these same insiders. A joint investigation by Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project, published in June, documented the same pattern: taxpayer money flowing into a “Trumpified version of the 250th anniversary” that is “mostly about lionizing Trump and catering to his political base,” according to Alan Zibel, the Public Citizen research director who co-authored the report.
The private fundraising operation attached to Freedom 250 is even more troubling. Sponsorship packages obtained by investigators reveal a tiered access system. For $500,000, a donor receives VIP access to events. For $2.5 million, the package includes a private photo with Trump. The report states that foreign donations are not barred, and Freedom 250 has actively courted international money, including at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Corporate sponsors include ExxonMobil, Oracle, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, United Airlines, and Mastercard, all companies with major regulatory interests before the federal government.
“When Trump and his allies are soliciting donations from corporations with business before the administration in exchange for access, including to the president himself, these are not donations,” said Toni Aguilar Rosenthal of the Revolving Door Project. “These are transactions.”
The corruption is not limited to Freedom 250. Trump has stacked the board of the National Park Foundation with campaign operatives, including Sergio Gor, a former White House personnel official. The foundation, a charitable nonprofit that supports national parks, has been repurposed as a vehicle for fundraising tied to the 250th celebrations. Executive Order 14253, signed by Trump earlier this year, directs federal land management agencies to remove “negative” historical content from exhibits and educational materials on federal property, effectively mandating a sanitized, nationalist version of American history.
Seven states have declined to participate in the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall. Oregon’s spokesperson cited “growing concerns that the event is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented.” Multiple performers have dropped out of scheduled events, some saying they were misled about the nonpartisan nature of the programming. Trump responded by announcing he would headline the “Rally to end all Rallies” on June 24 instead.
Watchdog organizations, including Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Public Citizen, have filed lawsuits against the Interior Department to force disclosure of Freedom 250’s finances. The report cites ongoing concerns about potential violations of the Antideficiency Act, which bars federal agencies from accepting voluntary services or expending funds in excess of appropriations. There are also questions about wire fraud, given the possible commingling of foreign and domestic funds in a private entity ostensibly serving a public purpose.
What remains of the official America250 commission continues to plan nonpartisan events, but it operates in the shadow of the Trump-aligned operation. Kellyanne Conway, the former Trump counselor, has attempted to broker peace between the two factions, but Trump loyalists remain hostile to any compromise that dilutes the political character of the celebrations.
The deeper story is one of institutional capture. The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is not just a birthday party. It is a moment when a nation is supposed to reflect on what it means to be a nation. In the hands of the current administration, it has become a vehicle for personal enrichment, political propaganda, and the erasure of historical truth.
In February, Huffman described the operation in terms that may stand as its epitaph. In a speech on the House floor, he accused Republicans of letting Trump “hijack the country’s 250th anniversary, and sell access, hide his donors, and rewrite history.” He added: “The horror of slavery, the Native American genocide, all that is out. Censorship and gauzy Christian nationalism, written by PragerU, is in.”
This week, as the fireworks go off over the National Mall and Trump takes the stage at a rally dressed as a celebration, the question is not what kind of party America is having. The question is whether the nation even recognizes what has been stolen from it. A 250th anniversary happens once. That is the point. There is no second chance to get it right.