Technology Aug 06, 2026 · 1 min read

SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump’s library months before federal data center deal

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 (...

TH
The Verge
by Emma Roth
SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump’s library months before federal data center deal
A photo showing the groundbreaking at the Portsmouth, Ohio data center
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 raised concerns about bribery.

"Are we expected to believe it's a coincidence that two months after Softbank donated $50 million to the Trump library, his administration announced a massive lease deal for Softbank's data center?" Sen. Warren said in a statement to The …

Read the full story at The Verge.

TH
Source

This article was originally published by The Verge and written by Emma Roth.

Read original article on The Verge
Back to Discover

Reading List