Campaign Legal Center has filed a new complaint asking the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to investigate whether 35 corporate lobbyists failed to report donations to four of Trump’s pet projects, as required by federal lobbying law.
President Donald Trump’s pay-to-play approach to his second term has been well documented. Through embracing unprecedented conflicts of interests, Trump has created multiple avenues for wealthy special interests to purchase access and influence over his administration, making our government less responsive to the public in return.
Now, lobbyists seemingly are taking advantage of a new direct line of access to the president — cutting multi-million dollar checks to support various projects related to Trump’s legacy — and may be breaking the law in the process.
If lobbyists are secretly funding Trump’s legacy projects in order to exert undue influence over the policymaking decisions made by this administration, the public deserves to know.
Trump’s Legacy Projects
President Trump has announced the start of several pet projects within the first year of his term: demolishing the White House East Wing to construct a new state ballroom; creating Freedom 250, an organization designed to plan and finance events in the summer of 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding; renovating the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (now known as the Trump Kennedy Center); and establishing new nonprofit organizations to fund his official presidential library, a massive tower planned for South Florida.
These projects all share one key detail in common: The president has indicated that he participates directly in decision-making and funding, making him a controlling interest.
Under the Lobbyist Disclosure Act, lobbyists are required to disclose donations to entities that benefit government officials, including organizations closely connected to the president.
However, media reporting seems to indicate that at least 35 corporate lobbyists have been funding these projects without disclosure. Several of these names have appeared on limited donor lists provided by the projects, but legally required details, like the date and amount of the donations, are missing and remain unknown by the public. Most alarming is that there could be many more lobbyists hiding their donations.
The Lack of Transparency in Trump’s Second Term
If these donations were indeed made without proper disclosure, this is simply the latest example of the blatant rejection of ethics standards encouraged and proliferated by the Trump administration.
Trump has made it apparent that favorable treatment from his administration is connected to large donations: He has spent the first year of his term handing out Cabinet appointments, ambassadorships, presidential pardons and favorable policies to those who benefit him financially (a phenomenon that Campaign Legal Center has been documenting).
The instances of pay-to-play transactions above took place out in the open — but if lobbyists are flouting disclosure laws, that means the public has little idea of the full scope of political favor corporate influences are currently trying to purchase from the president.
Shedding light on corruption is the first step towards demanding stronger ethics laws that keep all elected officials, including the president, responsible to the American people. Keep up with our work to demand the enforcement of ethics law across government here.