A former lawyer for President Donald Trump appeared to find a question about his presidential library funny, but not for long.
Alina Habba reacted with a “haha” to a text message from CBS News asking whether she planned to give recent earnings that came to light to Trump’s presidential library, the outlet reported Thursday. She pulled the reaction seconds later and declined to comment.
The question wasn’t random. The New York Times recently reported that Trump had told aides and allies that Habba, his former personal lawyer, should donate part of a contract worth more than $50 million to his library or another Trump-related entity, according to CBS. The contract was with a company linked to the family of a Venezuelan businessman Trump pardoned in January, the Times reported.
She isn’t the only person in Trump’s orbit facing pressure to pay up. Trump’s top political advisers Chris LaCivita and James Blair handed their fees from consulting work for a pro-Russian party in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Trump’s library after the president threatened to cut ties over the work, The New York Post reported.
“The library is one of the last few places he can squeeze people for money,” a former Trump adviser told CBS, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “That’s what a businessman does. He just creates opportunities.”
The library’s foundation, which is run by Trump’s son Eric and son-in-law Michael Boulos, expects to raise $950 million by the end of 2027, according to an IRS application CBS obtained. Media and tech companies that settled lawsuits with Trump have already poured tens of millions of dollars into it.
The money could soon face scrutiny. Democrats swept the House and Senate on Tuesday, and in January, they will gain the power to subpoena records and compel testimony.
“The donors bankrolling his personal vanity project will have to answer to a new majority in Congress,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told CBS.
The White House referred CBS’ questions about the library to the foundation, which did not respond.
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