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Trump PAC to fund Smithsonian presidential portraits

Donald Trump's Save America PAC will help fund portraits of the former president and first lady Melania Trump for the National Portrait Gallery, according to the Smithsonian. File pool photo by Al Drago/UPI
Donald Trump's Save America PAC will help fund portraits of the former president and first lady Melania Trump for the National Portrait Gallery, according to the Smithsonian. File pool photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Donald Trump's political action committee Save America will help pay for portraits of the former president and first lady Melania Trump for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., according to the Smithsonian Institution.

A $650,000 donation was wired to the National Portrait Gallery on July 14 and was disclosed Saturday as a "charitable contribution" in a Federal Election Commission filing, according to Linda St. Thomas, a Smithsonian spokesperson. It is the first time money from a political action committee has been used to fund presidential portraits.

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St. Thomas said "all portraits of presidents at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, which features official portraits of all former presidents, are paid for with private funds raised by the museum."

Portraits of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were financed with $500,000 from private donors, including film director Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw, according to a Time magazine report in 2018.

St. Thomas said the money from Trump's Save America PAC will be used to "support the artists' fees, shipping, framing, installation and events."

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"Two artists have been commissioned, one for each portrait. The names will be released closer to the reveal of the paintings," St. Thomas said. "The creation of the portraits is underway. The timing of the artworks' reveal not determined yet."

The National Portrait Gallery's online display currently shows an unofficial Trump photo portrait.

A second private donation of $100,000 will also go toward the portraits. "We cannot give out the name of the donor without telling them first, so that's on hold," St. Thomas said.

New filings show Trump's Save America PAC started August with more than $99 million in cash reserves. The former president has continued to fundraise since leaving the White House with donations increasing following the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

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