Trump Is Now Openly Selling Spots to Donors on His Private 'National Security Briefings'

Corrupt politicians have frequently solicited support from their donors with an implied promise of influence over policy-making and access to inside information. The difference with Donald Trump is that he does this on a much larger scale—and all right out in the open.

CNN reports:

A fundraising email from President Donald Trump’s political action committee has a provocative pitch: using an image from Saturday’s dignified transfer honoring six fallen US soldiers, it promises access to the president’s “private national security briefings.”

The email, sent by Never Surrender, Inc., promotes what it calls a “National Security Briefing Membership” and urges recipients to “claim your spot” with multiple links to donate, in what it describes as an exclusive group receiving updates about national security threats.

It promises that members will “receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America. The straight truth on border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.”

Much of the attention to this story focused on Trump’s exploitation of the transfer of U.S. troops killed in his Iran war. But the promise of special access to national security information is even more remarkable. The only mitigating factor is that these donors are likely to just hear a rambling airing of Trump’s grievances, instead.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

© The UnPopulist, 2026

Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.