One of President Donald Trump’s top fundraising lieutenants has been enlisted to solicit money for his personal endeavor to develop a new golf course and sculpture garden on a prime piece of land along the Potomac River in Washington, DC.
Meredith O’Rourke, a longtime GOP fundraiser whom Trump has dispatched for many of his high-profile personal pursuits in his quest to put his stamp on the capital city’s landscape and culture, was the president’s national finance director during the 2024 election.
Since Trump took office, she has overseen donations for his ambitious East Wing ballroom project and played behind-the-scenes roles in raising money for the Kennedy Center and Freedom 250, the nonprofit the administration set up to run federal programming for the nation’s birthday celebrations.
Now O’Rourke is working with a new nonprofit, the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation, to solicit funds for Trump’s planned revamp of a historic public golf course in East Potomac Park and the nearby West Potomac Park, which the administration has homed in on for the sculpture garden.
Her role was revealed in a fundraising document included as part of an emergency court filing to the DC District Court on Sunday. The foundation is still awaiting approval for its tax-exempt status, the brochure said.
The involvement of O’Rourke and the coupling of the golf course and sculpture garden projects in fundraising efforts highlights the priority Trump appears to be placing on the projects.
O’Rourke declined to comment and referred CNN to the White House.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism. President Trump continues to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital during America’s historic semiquincentennial celebration.”
The Trump administration had already allocated millions for the garden — $34 million through funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and $40 million from the president’s massive policy bill. But the new foundation will solicit private donations as plans for the sculpture garden have expanded and the administration takes over the lease of the public golf course on the site Trump wants to redevelop, according to the fundraising brochure.
According to the latest plans, included in the emergency court filing Sunday and confirmed to CNN, the National Garden of American Heroes, which Trump had envisioned with 250 statues to celebrate America’s 250 years, now includes additional elements such as an amphitheater and numerous fountains.
The lead designer of the garden is Michael Curtis, a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society, along with a team composed of urban planner Dhiru Thadani, architect Michael Franck, architect CJ Howard and sculptor Brian Kramer.
However, CNN has previously reported that sources close to the project say it is unlikely that any sculptures will be delivered by July 4, the deadline. Plans for the garden have not been submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts or the National Capital Planning Commission — two government agencies whose approval is needed before it can be built. Foundries and artists from across the country who applied to work on the sculptures, which would take months to build, haven’t heard from the Trump administration.
The creation of another fundraising entity to collect money for the president’s Washington projects comes as judges are hearing lawsuits challenging the pursuits over their lack of transparency and disregard for legal processes.
At a DC District Court hearing Monday over the emergency filing, a preservation organization suing the administration over its plans to take over the golf course cited the fundraising brochure from the new foundation as evidence the government is moving forward without regard for environmental laws.
Judge Ana Reyes indicated she wanted confirmation that the fundraising message was real. She said the Justice Department should start gathering internal communications that would explain where it came from and who was involved.
Reyes said that such a fundraising pledge would not have been sent on a “whim” and that she suspected someone with knowledge about the plans for the East Potomac golf course would have been in communication the fundraiser.
“Something is happening, Mr. Robertson. I don’t know what it is, I trust you don’t know what it is,” Reyes said, addressing the DOJ’s lawyer while airing her suspicions that there was communication from the White House or the agency that prompted the fundraising pledge.
“When you have a pledge going out with pictures asking people for money, we are pretty far down the road.”
The hearing also underscored concerns that the administration will bulldoze first and ask questions later.
Reyes made clear that she didn’t want the plaintiffs or the court to be caught off guard by major changes to the grounds while the case is pending.
“Act first and ask for forgiveness later … that’s not going to be acceptable,” she said.
Trump previously appointed O’Rourke to serve on the board of the National Park Foundation, which is the congressionally authorized fundraising arm of the National Park Service and of which Freedom 250 is a subsidiary.
Senate Democrats have attempted to scrutinize her fundraising activities for Trump several times. In a letter late last year, Senate Democrats asked that she provide details on her role in the ballroom project. Earlier this year, several senators wrote to the White House demanding to know more about her role in “facilitating” collecting funds for both the White House ballroom project and Freedom 250.