{"id":5085,"date":"2026-08-06T15:28:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:28:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:28:36","slug":"softbank-trump-library-data-center-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5085","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump\u2019s library months before federal data center deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">SoftBank contributed $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, just months before announcing that it\u2019s leasing land from the federal government to build a sprawling data center in Ohio. The Japanese company revealed the timing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28540587-softbank-response\/\">in response<\/a> to a June letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.warren.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Letter-from-Senators-Warren-Blumenthal-Representative-Stansbury-to-SoftBank-re.-Library-Donation.pdf\">which raised concerns<\/a> about bribery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">\u201cAre we expected to believe it\u2019s a coincidence that two months after Softbank donated $50 million to the Trump library, his administration announced a massive lease deal for Softbank\u2019s data center?\u201d Sen. Warren said in a statement to <em>The Verge<\/em>. \u201cAgain and again, it seems like Trump is putting handshake deals with CEOs over what\u2019s best for Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">In March, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/em\/portsmouth\">SoftBank said<\/a> its SB Energy subsidiary formed a public-private partnership to build \u201cthe world\u2019s largest\u201d AI data center at the US Department of Energy\u2019s site in Portsmouth, Ohio. As part of the partnership, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-18\/japan-built-gas-plant-touted-by-trump-would-be-largest-in-the-us\">SB Energy will build<\/a> a massive gas-fired powerplant nearby, with a capacity of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/fact-sheet-department-energy-ensuring-affordable-energy-access-ohio-while-powering-future\">at least 9.2 gigawatts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">As the lawmakers note in their initial letter, SoftBank has made contributions to the presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, but only \u201cafter those presidents had left office and after the relevant library foundations and institutions had been established.\u201d With Trump\u2019s presidential library, however, SoftBank donated during Trump\u2019s term and \u201cbefore any presidential library has been constructed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Additionally, the organization responsible for taking donations, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2025\/10\/one-of-trumps-library-funds-has-mysteriously-dissolved-but-a-lack-of-transparency-keeps-the-public-in-the-dark\/\">had been dissolved<\/a> by the state of Florida last September after failing to file an annual report. SoftBank says in its response that it made its $50 million contribution to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1044qizi _18mzr4b1 _18mzr4b0 _19wv7tc1\">Donald Trump\u2019s son, Eric Trump, is a trustee of the nonprofit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/reports-investigations\/crew-investigations\/the-trump-organization-is-developing-trumps-presidential-library-maybe-as-a-trump-hotel\/\">Citizens for Ethics<\/a> reports. \u201cAs with its prior contributions to Presidential libraries, SoftBank understands that this donation will be used to support the construction and operation of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library,\u201d SoftBank\u2019s letter reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/policy\/976138\/softbank-trump-library-data-center-ohio\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SoftBank contributed $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, just months before announcing that it\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31,46,74,75],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-ai","tag-news","tag-policy","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump\u2019s library months before federal data center deal - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SoftBank donated $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library just months before announcing a data center deal in Ohio, where it\u2019s leasing federal land.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5085\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump\u2019s library months before federal data center deal - 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