President Donald Trump is reportedly raiding the National Park Service’s coffers to help pay for a lavish, $1.6 million July 4 fireworks show — the cost of which has skyrocketed to more than five times the usual price for pyrotechnics over the nation’s capital.
Trump’s administration is steering $90 million from park entry fees to the aerial spectacle that’s part of planned celebrations on the nation’s 250th Independence Day, The Washington Post said Wednesday.
Another $76 million is reportedly being spent to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and fountains across Washington during Trump’s drive to remake Washington, with some efforts bearing his name or image.
Ed Sterli of the National Parks Conservation Alliance, an advocacy group, told The Post he was concerned that the work was being done without public input or transparency at the same time that park system has a $24 billion backlog of deferred maintenance.
“We viewed America’s 250th as tide that was going to raise all boats,” he said. “Now that could not be any further from our current reality.”
In a statement to The Independent, the Interior Department said the park service was not only “focused on beautifying the district but has also been working on many deferred maintenance projects throughout the country.”
“While other administrations have let the city fall into decay, President Trump has made Washington, D.C. Safe and Beautiful again and we should all be grateful,” the statement said.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers also said, “Thanks to President Trump, more than 20 fountains and nearly 30 statues have been restored while many ongoing projects are projected to be completed in time for the historic 250th celebrations.”
The revelations came days after Trump’s plan for a concert featuring 1990s performers fell into disarray when several artists pulled out, with country star Martina McBride saying she “was assured this was a nonpartisan event,” only to find out that’s “not what is happening.”
A “Rededicate 250” prayer event on the National Mall last month was also marred by the leak of more than 30 gallons of fuel into underground irrigation reservoirs after alleged vandalism to power generators, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Sunday faced questions about the funding for the “Freedom 250” organization behind some events.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Burgum acknowledged that Freedom 250 was being “run out of the White House” but deflected questions about the donors, saying that “it about Americans celebrating the 250th anniversary” of Independence Day.
Visitors pay entry fees at more than 100 national parks, about a quarter of the total, and at least 20 percent of the money goes into a fund that can pay for expenses across the system, The Post said.
Internal park service documents show that as of late last month, it had approved about $105 million in fiscal 2026 spending in the National Capital Region, compared to about $27 million for all other purposes, according to The Post.
In April, park superintendents in an unidentified region of the country were reportedly told no fee money would be available for their parks because it was needed in Washington.
And an April note sent by senior park officials also reportedly informed staffers that a contingency fund for unforeseen expenses was instead being spent on beautification efforts and Fourth of July events in the capital.
Park fees are reportedly paying for $13 million in work on the Lafayette Park fountain in front of the White House, $5.7 million on the fountains at the Simón Bolivar Memorial in front of the Interior Department and another $47 million on other fountains on the National Mall.
In an ironic twist, an estimated $716,000 in entry fees were earmarked to move a statue of Caesar Rodney — a Founding Father who owned hundreds of enslaved people — to Washington’s Freedom Plaza, The Post said.
The statue stood in Wilmington, Delaware, before being removed during 2020 protests sparked the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and Washington TV station WJLA reported last month that it’s one of dozens that have been relocated to Freedom Plaza ahead of the Fourth of July.
The Post also reported that nearly $690,000 in park service funds were allocated to repair the “West Colonnade Walkway,” which appears to refer to Trump’s project to renovate the walkway outside the White House’s West Wing.
Trump had pushed for that work to be finished in time for the late April visit by Britain’s King Charles III, but neither Trump nor the White House have said how much the work cost or where the money came from, according to The Post.
“I paid for it so, you know, it’s very expensive,” the billionaire president told reporters in April.
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