Trump’s Department of Interior won’t turn over pledged money for America 250 event

There's an ongoing feud between the America 250 event and President Donald Trump's administration, and now the Department of the Interior is refusing to turn over pledged money for the "State Fair" event.

The Atlantic's Michael Scherer obtained a November 27, 2023, memo showing how enthusiastic the U.S. government was for the Smithsonian-led blockbuster festival that would be free for all to attend.

The memo said that the new “Festival of Festivals” would focus on the 250th birthday, with four to six weeks of events that would vary from workshops to displays all to “celebrate the nation’s successes,” “contemplate the consequences of our history” and “commit to advancing our multicultural democracy."

Then Trump took control of the event, renamed it the "Great American State Fair" and claimed it would feature exhibits from all 50 states. At least six of the 50 states are backing out of attending the event due to either costs or scheduling conflicts. The event has now fallen into "disarray and conflict," according to documents and interviews done by Scherer.

Now the Department of the Interior is refusing to honor its agreement from December, in which it pledged to transfer $50 million in congressional appropriations before Feb. 1. Only $25 million has been delivered, and there doesn't appear to be any more coming.

An unsigned statement from the press office at the Department of Interior said, “Spending taxpayer money on frivolous, poorly attended events and D.C. consultants who are trying to get rich off America’s 250th is the exact opposite of what was intended. This administration will not light taxpayer money on fire. Full stop.”

"Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration at the breakdown, with one House committee opening its own investigations into the Trump administration’s handling of taxpayer funding for America’s birthday party," wrote Scherer.

One commissioner told him, “This is straight out of It’s a Wonderful Life, when Henry Potter steals George Bailey’s money and tries to drive him to the brink. With less than a month away from this historic milestone, there is just no room for politics, and we remain hopeful that cooler heads will prevail."

Trump has created his own event called Freedom 250 instead of America 250, while America 250 is a bipartisan effort passed by Congress in 2016 to begin planning the events around the country.

“America250 can’t get over the fact that Trump won,” said Trump’s former co–campaign manager Chris LaCivita. He was a top contractor for America 250 until the Trump administration started its own event. “They want to apologize for America’s 250th. We don’t.”

The feud became public last month when nearly all of the acts recruited to play at the concert withdrew because didn't want to be part of something overtly partisan. Trump has since said the concert will become a MAGA event he's calling the a “Rally to end all Rallies."

Scherer said that the "supporters of America250, which is backed by a bipartisan caucus of 421 federal lawmakers, view this event as further proof that Trump always planned to remake the national celebration in his image."

For example, the draft of the Freedom 250 document walks through organizers encouraging Americans to host their own events "around the core America First issue." Those issues include parental rights, free speech and election integrity.

Lifelong Republican Cathy Gillespie, who has been an America250 commissioner for eight years, said that she's not sure where the idea came from that the event would apologize for its past.

“There is nothing anywhere that validates a claim it has failed in this mission, let alone apologize for our 250th Anniversary," she said.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement that the celebrations “shouldn’t be ruined by people or organizations more concerned with partisanship and apologizing for America than celebrating the greatest nation in history.”

But even former top Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said, “I have witnessed more collaboration than confrontation, and hope all can operate toward the same goal.”

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