A lobbying push by North Carolina’s Lumbee Tribe to get full governmental recognition attached to annual defense legislation now reveals the tribe’s newfound link to one of President Donald Trump’s children.
The effort entailed digging into genealogical records to show Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, is a descendant of the “most prominent” line of the Native American Lumbee Tribe.
The tribe, which has been seeking full federal recognition for years, told Trump in a Sept. 6 letter that Tiffany Trump is a direct descendant of an ancestor of present-day enrolled members of the tribe. The letter is part of an intense behind-the-scenes lobbying battle with other Native American tribes over the language riding on legislation for approving military pay raises and buying weapons.
The letter is first being reported by Bloomberg Government.
The fight over the tribe’s status escalates as senators put together their version of the annual defense policy measure. House members already included the Lumbee provision in their defense authorization bill
Lumbee Chairman John Lowery wrote to the president this month saying a recent review of historical records, genealogical documentation, and tribal enrollment sources show that Trump’s daughter has ancestral roots to the tribe through her maternal grandmother. Lowery added in the next sentence that the “tribe is most proud” of her lineage.
“We are confident that with your continued support and advocacy, we will successfully achieve full federal recognition of our nation,” Lowery wrote.
Trump has long been in favor of the recognition and put out a White House fact sheet outlining his support, three days after starting his second term and well before the tribe confirmed Tiffany’s connection.
Federal recognition would give the Lumbee Tribe access to government benefits and a way to open highly lucrative casinos on their land. Other tribes have opposed the move, questioning the tribe’s legitimacy and saying their claim needs to be better vetted.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Lowery, in an interview, said Tiffany Trump, the president’s daughter from his marriage to Marla Maples, was “not eligible to be a citizen of our tribe” or to get involved in potential casino or other business deals.
Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that a group seeking federal tribal recognition told the president of his family’s personal connection to the tribe.
Lowery said he was recently on Capitol Hill pushing for the measure, which would give the tribe a way to tap federal services in health care, education, agriculture, and other areas. The status would give the tribe an ability to start casinos, if the tribal members voted to approve, Lowery said.
Lowery said the Lumbee Tribe was recognized by the state of North Carolina in 1885 and by the US government in the 1950s. He said more than 200 tribes support the Lumbees’ full recognition.
The Lumbee Tribe is located in Pembroke, N.C., a rural area between Charlotte and Wilmington. The state is a political battleground and will feature a hotly contested Senate race next year. Republican Sen.
“This is a presidential priority,” Tillis, the Lumbees’ lead champion in the chamber, said in a recent interview. It has support of Democrats, too, with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) saying it was “long past time” for the measure in a statement this year. Trump’s 2024 opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, also said she supported recognition.
Lobbyists With Connections
The Lumbees have enlisted a roster of outside lobbyists and advisers to help make the pitch in Washington.
Ches McDowell, managing partner of Checkmate Government Relations, a firm that started in North Carolina and opened a Washington office this year, is helping the Lumbees at the federal level, Lowery said. Checkmate has not registered to lobby federally for the tribe, which McDowell said is a pro bono client and for whom recognition is the “right thing morally.” McDowell is the brother of Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.), a sponsor of the bipartisan Lumbee legislation (H.R. 474) in the House.
Lowery said former Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), now a senior adviser at McGuire Woods Consulting, is also advising the tribe. McGuire Woods reported $50,000 in federal lobbying fees this year from Lumbee Tribe Holdings Inc., disclosures show. Paul Moorehead, a principal at Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville and former staff director and chief counsel of the Senate Indian Affairs panel, also works for the tribe, Lowery said. Butterfield did not respond to a request for comment, and Moorehead declined to comment for the record.
Lobbying firms for the Lumbee Tribe have disclosed $720,000 in total federal lobbying fees dating back to 2004, including expenditures of $200,000 in 2024 to McGuire Woods, disclosures show.
Other entities have also disclosed lobbying on Lumbee federal recognition, including the University of North Carolina, which supports it.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker group, disclosed lobbying on the Lumbee legislation last year, according to congressional lobbying reports. The committee’s legislative representative for Native American advocacy, Rachel Overstreet, said in an email that the Friends Committee has supported federal recognition for various tribes but “has neither endorsed or opposed the Lumbee Fairness Act” recently.
The Lumbee constitution says the whole tribe would have to vote on whether to allow casinos, Lowery said.
“I don’t know that’s something we’d do anytime soon,” he said.
Trribal Opposition
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other tribes have signed letters against the provision.
“Our plan is basically to hopefully convince the Senate at this point to not accept any amendments related to the Lumbee bill,” said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in western North Carolina.
There’s a long history of tribal lobbying, especially over casino efforts, including the mid-2000s scandal of Jack Abramoff, who represented competing Indian tribes and which was the subject of the 2010 film “Casino Jack.”
Opponents of the Lumbees are mobilizing to strip the measure from the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other tribes have signed letters against the provision.
“Our plan is basically to hopefully convince the Senate at this point to not accept any amendments related to the Lumbee bill,” said Michell Hicks, the principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in western North Carolina.
Hicks said attempts to characterize the fight as one about casinos are “pretty shallow” and argued the Lumbee should seek recognition from the government’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment, not Capitol Hill. He said historians and the federal government have not substantiated the Lumbees’ claims to be a tribe and that there isn’t a record of treaties with the US government.
Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe and chair of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, said in a statement the Lumbee had not provided evidence. “If Congress rewards that behavior in the NDAA, then recognition isn’t about sovereignty anymore — it’s about campaign promises and lobbyists,” Barnes said.
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