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<\/div>\nTHE NEW REPUBLIC<\/p>\n
Trump officials\u00a0misled\u00a0people who wanted to donate to a bipartisan<\/a>\u00a0initiative to mark America\u2019s 250th anniversary, redirecting them to donate to the administration\u2019s own group instead, according to a congressional investigation released Thursday.<\/p>\n A report released by House Democrats, based on newly obtained documents and whistleblower accounts, said that the White House repeatedly steered donors toward Trump\u2019s\u00a0Freedom 250 setup<\/a>\u00a0instead of the America250 effort set up by Congress 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some donors and sponsors who sought to send funds to America250 were told by the Trump administration that they didn\u2019t have a \u201cgreen light,\u201d and were pressured to redirect their money to Freedom 250. Freedom 250 also reached out to America250 donors with donation requests, confusing some corporate executives who didn\u2019t know the difference between the two groups, the Democrats\u2019 report states.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a lawyer, and I know better than to pronounce that a crime has been committed,\u201d Representative Jared Huffman, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told\u00a0The Washington Post<\/i><\/a>. \u201cBut I do know the elements of fraud, and there is evidence of all those elements here.\u201d<\/p>\n The report goes on to detail how Freedom 250 officials explicitly steered money away from America250 toward projects favored by Trump, who undermined a bipartisan plan to celebrate the country\u2019s 250th anniversary to the benefit of himself and his allies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For example, America250 had received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund Freedom Trucks, mobile museums that would travel around the country with lessons on American history. That grant was transferred to Freedom 250, which produced its own version of the trucks with history lessons that present a\u00a0distorted image<\/a>\u00a0of U.S. history.<\/p>\n Democrats accuse Trump allies of steering away $75 million worth of taxpayer funds originally allocated by Congress to America250. The leftover money is expected to be kept by the White House. And Freedom 250\u2019s staff is made up of many former employees of Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which harvested user data.<\/p>\n Officials of the bipartisan America250 say now that they have shifted their efforts toward events outside of Washington, D.C., while Freedom 250 handles events in the nation\u2019s capital. But the split has confused legislators and corporate leaders and caused tensions between the two efforts, according to the\u00a0Post<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thanks to Trump, America250\u2019s grants, educational initiatives, and volunteer programs have been overshadowed by Freedom 250 efforts. Officials expect to make up for their lost funds through more private donations, but the president has effectively ruined what could have been a unifying, nonpolitical celebration of the U.S. at a time when the American people could really use it.<\/p>\n