Trump Administration Finally Discloses White House Ballroom Funding Contract in Response to Public Citizen’s FOIA Lawsuit
The agreement opens a first door into knowing more about the project’s funding scheme
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump Administration today disclosed the funding agreement for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. The administration disclosed the 14-page “Philanthropic Support Agreement” between the White House, the National Park Service and the non-profit Trust for the National Mall in response to Public Citizen’s FOIA request and a subsequent lawsuit.
In October, Public Citizen submitted a FOIA request to the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior seeking the White House Ballroom contract. In December, when the agencies had failed to respond, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit asking the court to compel the agencies to comply with FOIA.
“The Trump Administration’s failure to disclose this contract was flatly unlawful,” said Wendy Liu, Public Citizen attorney and lead counsel on the lawsuit. “The American people are entitled to transparency over this multi-million-dollar project, and this win gets us a bit closer to knowing the truth.”
“This is the first time we don’t have to take the word of the White House; we can see details of this scheme in black and white,” said Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger. “This document reveals that anonymous donations are the heart of this agreement. The questions this raises are, of the hundreds of millions being funneled in secret, who are these anonymous donors, and what are they hiding? The American people deserve answers, and we’ll keep fighting until they get them.”
While many questions remain unanswered surrounding the ballroom’s funding scheme, Public Citizen exposed a myriad of conflicts of interest concerns about pay-to-play government contracts and dropped enforcement actions benefiting ballroom donors in the report, Banquet of Greed.