Trump headlines a July Fourth fireworks record attempt on the National Mall for America's 250th

President Trump is scheduled to speak on the National Mall on Saturday night ahead of a fireworks show that organizers say will attempt to set a Guinness World Record, the closing event of a Fourth of July program built around the country's 250th anniversary.

The celebration, called Salute to America, runs from a stage on the Washington Monument grounds and is organized by Freedom 250, the group the White House created by executive order in 2025 to lead the anniversary events. According to the schedule published by the organizers and reported by Axios, guest entry begins at 1 p.m. between 14th and 17th Streets, military flyovers start at 1:15 p.m. and run hourly until sunset, opening programming begins at 5 p.m., and the main Salute to America program starts at 7 p.m. Trump is scheduled to speak at 9:45 p.m., with the fireworks set for 10:30 p.m. and running about 40 minutes, launched from the Mall and the Potomac River. Axios reported that the start of the fireworks depends on how long Trump's speech runs and whether there is a rain delay.

The National Weather Service forecast a high near 101 degrees in Washington for July 4, with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Organizers said they would set up water stations, refill points, and misting areas, and urged people on the Mall to take shade breaks. In a video posted Wednesday and reported by Axios, Trump described the address as a roughly 45-minute speech and said, "It's going to be approximately 107 degrees out, and I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna make a really long speech." He added, "Just to show that I can do anything."

Security on the Mall will be set at presidential-inauguration levels, the Secret Service said, with TSA-style screening and a clear-bag policy. Coolers and folding chairs are on the prohibited list; blankets and strollers are allowed.

Trump appeared at Mount Rushmore on Friday to open the holiday weekend, where he gave remarks and posted a video of himself at the memorial, according to ABC News and U.S. News & World Report.

A House report and a denial

The event opened two days after Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee released a 55-page report on Thursday accusing Freedom 250 of helping Trump turn the anniversary into what the report called a "hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment" through conduct that it said could amount to criminal fraud. The report is titled "From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People out of their 250th Birthday."

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the committee's ranking Democrat, told NPR the report drew on interviews with whistleblowers, sworn congressional testimony, and internal Freedom 250 documents. "Donald Trump hijacked what should have been a unifying national celebration and repurposed it for his own interests," Huffman said. Its central allegation is that some donors who intended to give to America250, the nonpartisan commission Congress created in 2016, were instead given Freedom 250's banking information, which the report says could constitute wire fraud.

The report has not been adopted by the committee and does not represent its official position. Republicans on the committee have not conducted oversight on the question, and ranking Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Freedom 250 rejected the findings. Spokesperson Danielle Alvarez called the report "categorically false" and a "partisan smear," and said in a statement to NPR that "Congressional members should be ashamed they are spending countless hours fabricating a report instead of joining Americans in creating an absolutely beautiful celebration." On the funding, the group said no federal money was earmarked for either organization, so "claims that federal funds were 'diverted' from America250 to Freedom250 are baseless." It said "every major sponsor received documentation identifying Freedom 250 as the recipient's organization before funds were transferred, and donors were free to decline," and that it does not accept foreign donations. The White House referred NPR's request for comment to Freedom 250, which said it does not speak for the White House.

Two organizations, one anniversary

Congress created America250 in 2016 as a nonpartisan commission to plan the semiquincentennial. Freedom 250 was incorporated in October 2025 as an LLC under the National Park Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the National Park Service, and describes itself as the national, nonpartisan organization leading the celebration. Its chief executive is Keith Krach, a former Trump administration official; America250 is chaired by Rosie Rios, who served as U.S. treasurer under President Obama.

The report says Congress allocated $150 million to the Interior Department for the anniversary with an understanding that $100 million would go to America250, and that America250 has received $25 million, citing unnamed sources. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who serves as ex officio director of the foundation's board, testified in May that he was "not aware of the final decision maker on Freedom 250," and told CNN the same month that the organization is "run out of the White House."

Two watchdog groups, Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project, published a separate analysis of Freedom 250's contracts. Toni Aguilar Rosenthal of the Revolving Door Project said that of more than $120 million in public funds directed toward the anniversary, more than $100 million went to projects, events, and entities tied to the Trump administration. The groups noted that federal contracts directed tens of millions of dollars to Event Strategies, Inc., a company that helped organize Trump's rally near the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Asked about the report, Rios did not address it directly and said America250 "will continue to focus on the values-based programming approved by our bipartisan Commission." Huffman said his investigation would continue past the Fourth of July, and that he had not ruled out subpoenas or criminal referrals if Democrats win a House majority in the fall.

Whether the fireworks begin on schedule at 10:30 p.m. will depend on how long Trump speaks.