SoftBank gave $50M to Trump's library months before landing a federal data center lease

SoftBank contributed $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, two months before announcing it would lease Department of Energy land in Portsmouth, Ohio to build what it calls the world's largest AI data center, alongside a gas plant of at least 9.2 gigawatts. The timing surfaced in SoftBank's response to a letter from Senators Warren and Blumenthal and Rep. Stansbury raising bribery concerns. SoftBank previously donated to the Reagan and George W. Bush libraries, but only after those presidents left office and the foundations existed. "Are we expected to believe it's a coincidence?" Warren said. "Again and again, it seems like Trump is putting handshake deals with CEOs over what's best for Americans."

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