SoftBank donated $50 million to Trump’s library months before federal data center deal

A photo showing the groundbreaking at the Portsmouth, Ohio data center

The Portsmouth, Ohio site where SoftBank will build its data center. | Image: US Department of Energy

SoftBank contributed $50 million to the Trump Presidential Library in January, just months before announcing that it’s leasing land from the federal government to build a sprawling data center in Ohio. The Japanese company revealed the timing in response to a June letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), which raised concerns about bribery.

“Are we expected to believe it’s a coincidence that two months after Softbank donated $50 million to the Trump library, his administration announced a massive lease deal for Softbank’s data center?” Sen. Warren said in a statement to The …

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