Critics of Trump's presidential library fundraising say "there are no rules"

Yahoo

17-07-2025

President Trump's efforts to direct millions of dollars to his future presidential library has drawn fresh attention to a lack of visibility into the identities or potential interests of the donors who are funding it, a longstanding Washington concern facing past presidents from both parties.
Two prominent Senate Democrats say they are preparing to introduce a bill Wednesday that would regulate fundraising for presidential libraries, according to documents shared with CBS News.
"Donald Trump is using his presidential library as a tool for bribery while he is still in office," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, who is introducing the legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut.
"Many of the donations to Trump's future library are coming straight from companies and special interests that need a favor from Trump," Warren said. "Right now there are no rules."
The effort was spurred by a series of announcements about gifts to the Trump library, including an opulently appointed Boeing 747 given to the U.S. Air Force by the Qatari royal family for the president's use, after which it would be donated to the library for Mr. Trump's post-presidency.
The proceeds of four large legal settlements with the president are also reportedly bound for his library fund. The multimillion-dollar settlements stem from Mr. Trump's lawsuits against Meta, ABC News, X (formerly Twitter) and Paramount. Paramount is the parent company of CBS News.
The funds from the four settlements alone could total up to $63 million, according to a CBS News review of news reports and court documents.
Sens. Warren and Blumenthal, along with three House members, Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), are proposing several measures to restrict fundraising for presidential libraries. Among them is a contribution cap of $10,000 per person while the president is still serving in office.
The legislation also proposes quarterly disclosures for all donations of $200 or more, and imposes a two-year "cooling off" period after the end of their term during which a president cannot accept donations from foreign nationals, federal government contractors or individuals seeking presidential pardons. Finally, the bill also explicitly bars the use of library donations for personal expenses.
"Right now, there are basically no rules," said Warren. "The settlements show everyone who has business pending in front of the federal government, that if they've got enough money and can funnel it to Donald Trump through his future presidential library, they might receive better treatment from the US government."
The White House did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.
Funding is largely opaque and unregulated
The total amount raised for the Trump library to date is likely far greater than the amounts visible through the president's publicly announced legal settlements. For instance, funds leftover from the $239 million raised by the Trump-Vance inaugural committee — including millions from tech companies and CEOs such as Amazon, OpenAI, Apple and Uber — were expected to be redirected to the library, according to multiple news reports. It's unclear how much of those funds have already been transferred. Donations to inaugural funds are required to be reported publicly, whereas presidential libraries are under no such obligation.
The $400 million jet the Trump administration accepted from Qatar in May is also slated to be transferred to the Trump library shortly before he leaves office.
Other than those instances, the funding for the private foundations that support presidential libraries is largely opaque and unregulated, experts said.
"No one outside the organization knows who contributes to presidential library funds," said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer who advises tax exempt organizations. "That information is provided to the IRS, but is not made public."
While campaign funds have historically been tightly regulated under a series of laws passed after the Watergate scandal, there are no restrictions on donations to presidential libraries, Kappel said. While in office, presidents can solicit unlimited library donations from anyone — including foreign nationals, individuals seeking presidential pardons and corporations with federal contracts.
"The lack of transparency could raise the appearance of impropriety," said Kappel. "No one will know who is making donations to the presidential library while the president is still in office and making government policy."
Trustees of the two Trump library organizations and the Trump Organization did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.
The Obama Presidential Foundation, which oversees the development of former President Barack Obama's library in Chicago, was founded in January 2014, a year after Obama's second term began. The foundation said it would disclose all donors and donations over $200 on a quarterly basis on their website in an effort to increase transparency. It was estimated in June 2021 that the center will cost roughly $700 million to construct.
President George W. Bush's library foundation began fundraising efforts in the spring of 2009, after he left office. The foundation did not publicly disclose its donors. The cost of that effort clocked in at $250 million. The George W. Bush Presidential Center, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, opened in 2013.
The first presidential library was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. Since then, presidential libraries are built and maintained with a mix of private and federal funds. Typically the library itself is constructed with private donations, and occasionally with support from local government or university partners. The library is then transferred to the federal government and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, which oversees the preservation of presidential documents and has a congressionally appropriated budget for maintaining the library structures.
Two nonprofits behind the Trump library
In the last year, the Trump family and associates have established two funds for presidential library donations, according to incorporation records reviewed by CBS News. Both are incorporated as nonprofits in Florida.
The first, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund Inc., was created in December 2024, before President Trump was sworn in, and shortly after ABC announced it would donate $15 million to the future Trump library to settle a defamation claim the president brought against the network. According to incorporation documents, the fund was established by Jacob Roth, a Florida-based attorney who also filed the paperwork for both the Trump Vance Inauguration Committee Inc. and the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee Inc. in November. According to incorporation documents for the organization, the purpose of the fund is to "to preserve and steward the legacy of President Donald J. Trump and his presidency."
A few months later, in May, a second nonprofit was incorporated under the name Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation. There are three listed trustees: Eric Trump; Tiffany Trump's husband, Michael Boulos; and James Kiley, a New York attorney who represented Mr. Trump between 2020 and 2022 during one of his legal battles against his niece, Mary Trump.
This foundation was created to "steward, preserve, and celebrate the legacy and historical record of President Donald J. Trump and his presidency," according to filings.
There may not be rules for what money can go into a presidential library fund, but there are strict rules for how nonprofit funds can be spent.
As nonprofit 501(c)(3)s, tax laws prohibit the use of funds from a presidential library for personal benefit. The IRS is in charge of enforcing all conflict-of-interest laws for nonprofits, although experts are skeptical about the agency's political will to enforce those provisions.
"501(c)(3)s are supposed to be used for charitable purposes. To the extent funds are being used beyond that, and outside the scope of a presidential library, that's something the IRS would have to look into," said Viriginia Canter, who served as senior ethics counsel for the Treasury Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
There is no indication that Mr. Trump or his family are using funds for the libraries for personal expenses.
Past library controversies
The Trump family is not the first to face criticism over donations to a library fund while in office. President Bill Clinton faced significant pushback after he pardoned billionaire businessman Marc Rich, who'd fled to Switzerland after he was indicted in 1983 on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, racketeering, trading with Iran during an embargo and evading more than $48 million in U.S. income taxes.
Clinton's pardon — which was issued just hours before he left office in January 2001 — faced scrutiny even from some of his closest allies, who said Rich's pardon appeared to have been bought. They pointed to the $450,000 donation Rich's ex-wife, Denise Rich, bestowed to the Clinton library foundation and the additional $100,000 she donated to Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.
And in 2008, a GOP lobbyist with ties to the Bush administration was caught on video allegedly soliciting a donation for his presidential library in exchange for setting up a meeting with top White House officials. (It was a sting operation set up by a newspaper; no money changed hands.)
Congress has tried, and largely failed for almost two decades, to pass legislation that would require organizations raising funds for presidential libraries to disclose donations. Since 2007, the House has passed five bills regarding presidential library funding transparency — the most recent being in 2019 — but they have all been stalled in the Senate.
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