Millions Went To Gov. Abbott’s Wall Fund In August, But The Donor List Is So Far Opaque

This week in Texas politics with The Texas Tribune.

By Alexandra HartSeptember 3, 2021 3:08 pm,

Time for the week that was in Texas Politics with The Texas Tribune’s James Barragán.

Private donations for Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to crowdfund a border wall saw a big increase in August. The governor announced the website to collect donations for a $250 million “down payment” for Texas’ own border wall back in June. Donations were coming in slowly through mid-August, Barragan said, but jumped significantly in the latter half of the month. It’s unknown who is behind the cash infusion.

“We’re not quite sure what it is because they don’t report who is giving instantaneously on the website,” he said. “But we saw it jump to about $19 million on Aug.27 and then all the way up to $54 million on Aug. 31, which is a huge sum.”

The Governor’s office doesn’t voluntarily provide information on donors, the Tribune reports. Barragán says that the Tribune has filed public information requests on the donations.

“The governor’s office says that they’re following all open records laws and disclosing the information according to the letter of the law,” Barragán said. “And I think that, sure, that that may be true. But I think when you tell people that it’s going to be transparent and open, I think people expect it to be transparent and open.”

Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.

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