SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump’s library months before federal data center deal
The Portsmouth, Ohio site where SoftBank will build its data center. | Image: US Department of Energy SoftBank contributed $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, just months before announcing that it's leasing land from the federal government to build a sprawling data center in Ohio. The Japanese company revealed the timing in response to a June letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), which r
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Japanese company SoftBank donated $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, then announced months later that it would lease federal land to build a data center in Ohio. Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about potential bribery, noting that SoftBank's timing differs from its past donations to other presidential libraries, which came after those presidents left office. The donation was made while Trump was still in office and before the presidential library had been constructed, and the organization receiving the funds had actually been dissolved by Florida the previous September after failing to file an annual report.
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