ICYMI: CBS News: Republicans spent years targeting progressive dark money. That could now boomerang on Trump
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 27, 2026
ICYMI: CBS News: Republicans spent years targeting progressive dark money. That could now boomerang on Trump
Washington, D.C. – As the Trump administration and congressional Republicans ramp up pressure on nonprofits doing work they disagree with — subpoenaing groups tied to progressive donors and floating new disclosure rules aimed at the left — a bill they're pushing could boomerang on one of their own. New reporting from CBS News shows that Freedom 250, the Trump-linked group behind America's 250th birthday celebration, has raised tens of millions in undisclosed corporate donations while filing no financial reports of its own, and the GOP's new transparency push could be the thing that finally forces it into the open.
Read the highlights below:
CBS News: Republicans spent years targeting progressive dark money. That could now boomerang on Trump
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President Trump declared that Freedom 250, organized as a limited liability company, would throw America "the most spectacular birthday party you've ever seen." The National Park Foundation received roughly $90 million in federal dollars to support the celebration, government records show. Freedom 250 separately solicited seven-figure donations from corporate sponsors, documents show, without filing any public financial disclosures of its own.
This kind of lawful structure is familiar in the nonprofit world, where charities routinely house projects that lack their own tax-exempt status, an arrangement known as fiscal sponsorship — a term that does not appear in the tax code. The National Park Foundation describes Freedom 250 as a "wholly owned subsidiary" that provided the Park Service with "access to the expertise needed for planning and executing the events" for the 250th.
Freedom 250 files no tax return of its own, and money raised in its name legally belongs to the National Park Foundation. There is no standalone accounting on these disclosures of how much flowed through the project, how it was spent, or who ran it.
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For years, Republicans have scrutinized this exact type of fundraising system, arguing that left-leaning nonprofits abused lax federal regulations while funding allegedly partisan causes. Liberal groups have denied any impropriety.
Now, those GOP efforts have ramped up. Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill last week that would require charities to disclose fiscal sponsorship arrangements on their tax returns. And it would also impose a tax of 20% on funds deemed to have been "improperly" routed through them — rising to 100% if not corrected.
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Freedom 250 — the entity that could be roped into more disclosure under the GOP bill — has been described one way in corporate filings and another by the cabinet secretary whose department oversees the National Park Service.
Corporate filings reviewed by CBS News list Freedom 250's beneficial owner as Ruth Prescott, the executive vice president and chief governance officer of the National Park Foundation. The filings do not list any White House officials.
But Interior Secretary Doug Burgum could not identify who ran Freedom 250. He testified to Congress in May that he was "not aware of the final decision maker on Freedom 250," and later told CNN that the group was "run out of the White House."
Testifying in February, National Park Foundation president and CEO Jeff Reinbold said the foundation had "created Freedom 250 at the request of the National Park Service."
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The Trump administration appointed allies of the president to the board of the foundation, including Meredith O'Rourke, Mr. Trump's top fundraiser, and Chris LaCivita, Mr. Trump's 2024 campaign co-manager. A fundraising solicitation, first reported by the New York Times, offered donors who gave at least $1 million invitations to a "private Freedom 250 reception hosted by Mr. Trump" with a "historic photo opportunity." Those giving at least $2.5 million were offered speaking roles at a July 4 celebration, the document said.
Democrats in Congress have investigated Freedom 250, casting the entity as a "shadow organization capable of infiltrating the celebrations and injecting America's 250th with Trump's extreme, partisan agenda," according to a 55-page interim staff report released in July by the House Natural Resources Committee.
The report cited Freedom 250's events this year — such as a daylong prayer gathering in May featuring conservative Christian clergy, as well as its "Freedom Trucks," a fleet of mobile museums that featured content about American history with the conservative group PragerU and conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan.
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An effort to unmask nonprofit relationships is also taking shape in the Trump administration. At the Treasury Department, officials announced in late April 2026 that the IRS plans to revise the Form 990 — the annual return filed by tax-exempt groups — to require "clearer reporting" on government grants, government contracts and fiscal sponsorship arrangements.
The announcement, billed as an effort "to expose hidden funding," said recent congressional oversight had raised concerns that some fiscal sponsorship arrangements may be used to obscure funding. The Treasury Department and the IRS say they expect to issue proposed regulations and take public comment before finalizing anything.
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