Impeach Doug Burgum for
Bankrolling Trump’s Vanity Projects
LeeAnn Hall / National Campaign for Justice
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fight-to-impeach-doug-burgum/
(June 1, 2026) — Donald Trump is raiding national park entrance fees to bankroll his D.C. vanity projects while parks across the country face a $23 billion deferred maintenance backlog.
Families pay entrance fees expecting that money to protect trails, repair roads, maintain bathrooms, restore campgrounds, preserve historic sites, and keep parks accessible. Instead, the Trump administration is diverting at least $67 million in park visitor fees into D.C. fountains and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
This is corruption hiding behind “beautification.” At least $60 million is going to repair ornamental fountains in Washington, D.C., and at least another $7 million is being used for Trump’s blue Reflecting Pool makeover. That money should be helping national parks that are falling apart, not funding Trump’s attempt to turn the capital into a backdrop for his ego.
Let’s be clear: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is letting it happen. Burgum is supposed to protect public lands, public money, and the National Park Service. Instead, he is acting like Trump’s personal project manager while park staff are stretched thin, basic maintenance goes unfinished, and visitor fees are siphoned toward presidential vanity projects.
The Abuse Gets Worse
Trump’s proposed triumphal arch on public land could cost at least $100 million and has already been pushed forward despite massive public opposition, lawsuits, and serious questions about legal authority. Burgum has defended Trump’s D.C. projects, and it’s likely he even lied to Congress about it to House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman.
The Reflecting Pool project is already a scandal. Trump claimed it could cost around $1.8 million and take about a week. Now the contract is more than seven times that amount, the work has dragged on, and the contractor received a no-bid deal with a profit margin far above the normal range for similar federal work.
Congress cannot treat this like another ridiculous Trump headline. Public money is being moved. Public land is being used. Public oversight is being dodged. Contractors are getting sweetheart deals. National parks are being starved while Trump’s preferred D.C. projects get rushed ahead.
Burgum’s job is not to shield Trump from accountability. His job is to faithfully manage the Interior Department, protect the National Park Service, and follow the law.If he is willing to help Trump misuse park visitor fees, push questionable vanity construction on public land, and mislead Congress about what is happening, then Congress must act.
Someone must be held accountable for this reckless abuse of public money and public property. That starts with Secretary Doug Burgum.
Thank you for demanding accountability.
LeeAnn Hall, Director, National Campaign for Justice
