President Donald Trump’s presidential library has already received nearly half a billion dollars in known donations. This is a staggering figure considering a library may never be built.

This begs the question, is Trump using the ruse of building a library as a vehicle for funneling bribes? If so, then a new bill introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren would help put a stop to the corruption and make presidential foundations more transparent.

Public donations to Trump’s presidential library foundation include a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, $15 million from an ABC News settlement in a defamation suit filed by Trump, and $16 million from Paramount’s settlement in another Trump case over the editing of Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview.

The Paramount settlement comes at the same time the company is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its planned merger with Skydance, prompting many to say the settlement reeks of bribery.

It also underscores long-standing problems about the complicated relationship between private presidential foundations and the National Archives, which runs the presidential library system.

For starters, the public only knows about these donations because of high-profile litigation and the diligent work of reporters.

We don’t know how many other donations have been made, or by whom, because there are virtually no disclosure requirements for gifts to presidential foundations that are building the facilities. This allows anonymous donations to foundations from sources that might be eager to avoid normal campaign disclosure requirements.

Warren’s new bill, the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act, would close this loophole. It would, among other things:

  • Require the National Archives to publish each quarter any donations to these building projects over $200
  • Forbid donations (like luxury jets) from being used for personal benefit
  • Prohibit fundraising for building projects until after the president is out of office
  • Apply equally to presidential foundations that are actually interested in building a government-run library and to presidential foundations that are more interested in building centers with no government presence

It’s a good bill, and Freedom of the Press Foundation is proud to support it.

And reforms to the presidential library system don’t have to stop there.

One of the biggest frustrations about the presidential libraries, which is where members of the public can request the declassification of records from a particular administration, is that it takes years (or decades) for the libraries to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. This is in part because the National Archives does not have the authority to declassify records from other agencies.

How bad has the problem gotten? The George W. Bush Presidential Library now says it will take 12 years to respond to a single FOIA request.

This long wait is made worse by the fact that the National Archives, which is understaffed and underresourced during the best of times, is planning to have its budget cut by over 10%.

Declassification of presidential records may stall entirely as a result.

Additional reforms to the presidential library system should address the budgetary needs of the National Archives and grant the archives more authority to release other agency records.

Meanwhile, let’s hope Congress acts on the Warren bill to help fix the cracks in the presidential library facade.