Congressional Democrats are trying to track down millions of dollars that were meant to go towards Donald Trump’s planned presidential library before the receiving organization was suddenly dissolved last year.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, along with New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, have written to ABC, Meta, Paramount, and X requesting details about the money they pledged to give Trump’s library project after settling high-profile legal disputes with the president, The Washington Post reported.
The cases were settled for around $63 million, with the companies agreeing to direct millions of those funds toward building Trump’s proposed library in Miami, Florida.
However, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund, which was initially set to receive at least some of the settlement money, was dissolved last fall after failing to submit a mandatory annual report. The attorney who signed the fund’s registration paperwork and filed to have it dissolved, Jacob Roth, worked at the time at the Dhillon Law Group, the Post reported. That law firm was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, Trump’s assistant attorney general for civil rights.
A second nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc., was then established and reported in December 2025 that it had received $50 million, though it is not confirmed whether that total includes the settlement funds.
“Now it is unclear where this money has gone, exacerbating concerns about corruption that were apparent at the time of the settlement,” the lawmakers wrote.
Trump sued ABC for defamation after anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely claimed on-air the president had been found “liable for rape” in the civil trial involving former Elle writer E. Jean Carroll. The president sued Paramount, alleging it deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 rival Kamala Harris.
Trump also filed claims against social media companies X and Meta after his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts were suspended in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021. All the settlements were widely condemned at the time as desperate attempts to bend the knee to Trump following his 2024 election victory.
Federal laws do not require nonprofits created to build presidential libraries to disclose their donors. Critics warn that the lack of transparency could provide a backdoor for wealthy individuals or corporations to curry favor with the president through large donations without public disclosure.
It remains unclear what Trump’s proposed library will look like if it is ultimately built. One concept involves making the library an interior feature of a 47-story skyscraper in Miami, a not-too-subtle nod to Trump being the 47th president, according to Politico.
Trump has also considered placing the $400 million luxury jet gifted to him by Qatar on display as a centerpiece exhibit to help make the library a major tourist draw.
The Daily Beast has contacted ABC, Meta, Paramount, X, and the Trump Presidential Library Foundation for comment.
