{"id":6836,"date":"2026-08-26T12:05:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=6836"},"modified":"2026-08-26T12:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:05:58","slug":"mystery-mires-sean-duffy-road-trip-as-irs-has-no-record-of-non-profit-funding-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=6836","title":{"rendered":"Mystery mires Sean Duffy road trip as IRS has no record of non-profit funding it"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The IRS has no public record of a lobbyist-run nonprofit raking in millions of corporate dollars to fund a July 4th-themed reality show starring a member of President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Damage has been done\u2019: Wall Street turns on scrambling Trump Cabinet member<\/a><\/p>\n

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s newly released “The Great American Road Trip” \u2014 in which he takes luxury vacations funded by companies his department regulates \u2014 has hidden its finances behind a Delaware-based nonprofit run by lobbyists whose clients benefit from Duffy’s department and a spokesperson for his son-in-law’s campaign. <\/p>\n

Brendan Glavin, of the transparency watchdog group OpenSecrets, told Raw Story Great American Road Trip, Inc. is part of an alarming trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cNonprofits are being hijacked for political activity,\u201d he told Raw Story. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months of determined reporters’ searches for financial information about Great American Road Trip, Inc.<\/u> \u2014 the 501(c)(4) that funded the series featuring Duffy, his reality-star alumna wife and their nine children \u2014 are limited to a two-page tax report filed in Delaware and a filing correcting a typo in the nonprofit\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit does not appear in the IRS database of tax-exempt organizations<\/u>, nor does it appear on Candid<\/u>, an online database of nonprofits, nor a nonprofit database<\/u> maintained by ProPublica<\/u>. It does not appear in the IRS\u2019s business files in Delaware, where it is incorporated, nor in Washington D.C., where it is located.<\/p>\n

Media requests for access to finance documents have not been heeded. <\/p>\n

Tori Barnes, the former General Motors lobbyist who runs the nonprofit, didn’t respond to an NPR<\/u> request for an identification number, and told Politico in May that the nonprofit hadn\u2019t filed an initial Form 990 because it wasn\u2019t yet due.<\/p>\n

It could be months before the IRS publishes the Great American Road Trip, Inc.\u2019s financial filings because 1) the agency is \u201cnotorious\u201d for delay and 2) the nonprofit has the right to request an extension on its deadline, according to Glavin.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the IRS \u2014 the agency with the most access to information about such nonprofits \u2014 has a strong incentive not to investigate them. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get involved, you\u2019re putting your career at risk for potential political blowback,\u201d Glavin said. \u201cIt\u2019s in the IRS\u2019s best interest in some cases to not actually go after these groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these roadblocks, Politico managed to unearth a corporation tax filing in Delaware<\/u> dated June 23, 2025 that lists the corporation’s address as Barnes\u2019 $2 million home in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

That document lists Max Docksey \u2014 campaign spokesperson for Duffy\u2019s son-in-law Michael Alfonso\u2019s congressional campaign in Wisconsin \u2014 as a director. <\/p>\n

Alfonso\u2019s campaign has received at least $1,000 from General Motors\u2019 PAC<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Another director, Mark Bednar, successfully lobbied Duffy for a national security contract worth $1.5 billion<\/u> for his client, Peraton<\/u>, to modernize the nation\u2019s Air Traffic Control System<\/u> in December. <\/p>\n

When, in June, the Transportation Department released a four-page response<\/u> to mounting scrutiny over the yet-to-materialize show, it admitted it paid for Duffy\u2019s flights when he also conducted official business.<\/p>\n

Examples of official business included \u201cmeeting with air traffic controllers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politico also unearthed a corrected certificate of incorporation<\/u> \u2014 changing the name from Great America Road Trip to Great American Road Trip \u2014that includes a promise from the directors. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo part of the Corporation’s net earnings may inure to the benefit of or be distributed to any director,\u201d the document states. <\/p>\n

Read more GOP lawmakers quietly slash funds for Dolly Parton children\u2019s book charity<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether or not they have kept that promise remains unclear because so little information has been released.<\/p>\n

The show itself only aired on Aug. 19, despite the department\u2019s and the nonprofit\u2019s stated mission to encourage family road trips during the summer of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Pew Research analysis shows<\/u> about half of U.S. public school students have already returned to class. <\/p>\n

\u201cSummer is nearly over and the American people haven\u2019t seen a single episode of this reality TV show,\u201d Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), told Forbes<\/u> earlier this month. \u201cSo what did the corporate sponsors who helped fund this road trip actually pay for?\u201d <\/p>\n

Murray is not the only person to raise concerns that Duffy was gifted hotel rooms, a cruise, white-water rafting and ski trips from corporate sponsors regulated by his department.<\/p>\n

Those sponsors include United Airlines, Royal Caribbean, Shell, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Lyft, as well as Boeing and Toyota, both of whom the Wall Street Journal<\/u> reports donated $1 million each. <\/p>\n

Barnes refused to disclose the nonprofit\u2019s budget for the show to the Journal, but Forbes<\/u> estimated sponsors could have spent as much as $5 million. <\/p>\n

Barnes told The Atlantic<\/u> that Duffy had \u201cabsolutely nothing to do\u201d with nonprofit fundraising.<\/p>\n

These denials did not prevent Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, from accusing Duffy of an and requesting the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Office of Inspector General of federal gift and travel rules.<\/p>\n

Specifically, CREW raised concerns Duffy had violated federal law banning executive branch officials from accepting gifts from businesses they regulate and using taxpayer funds to support his trips.<\/p>\n

CREW\u2019s thorough investigation included multiple sources \u2014 news reports, social media commentary, federal law citations and press releases \u2014 but no financial records.<\/p>\n

“Secretary Duffy may have used government resources to promote the project,” the watchdog group wrote in a recent demand to the federal government for more information. <\/p>\n

“And accepting travel from companies with business before DOT potentially implicates even more significant corruption and misconduct concerns.”<\/p>\n

Six Democratic U.S. senators called on the Transportation inspector general to open an official investigation in June, accusing Duffy of accepting \u201cgas, lodging, and other travel expenses from a non-profit funded by the very companies the Secretary regulates.\u201d <\/p>\n

When Forbes<\/u> asked for comment, Duffy\u2019s assistant Nate Sizemore<\/u> said in an email, \u201ccareer ethics officials cleared every aspect of the Secretary\u2019s participation in the Great American Road Trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more MAHA moms threaten to walk as \u2018frustrated\u2019 White House doubles down: \u2018Clock is ticking\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The IRS has no public record of a lobbyist-run nonprofit raking in millions of corporate dollars to fund a July 4th-themed reality show starring a member of President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s newly released “The Great American Road Trip” \u2014 in which he takes luxury…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigation"],"yoast_head":"\nMystery mires Sean Duffy road trip as IRS has no record of non-profit funding it - Property Relocation USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=6836\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mystery mires Sean Duffy road trip as IRS has no record of non-profit funding it - 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