President Donald Trump praised Scotts Miracle-Gro this week, saying the lawn and garden company replaced the White House lawn without charging for it. He made the comments while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
Trump said the Ohio-based company would soon replace the grass across 700 acres of parks in Washington, DC. He described the new grass as some of the best available.
The president said he agreed to let the company do the work after a friend contacted him about it.
Trump says he accepted the offer once he learned it would cost nothing
Trump told reporters that Scotts Miracle-Gro handled the White House lawn without charging for it. “They do great grass. What can I tell you? I gotta give them a plug because they did the White House for free,” Trump said.
He also described how the arrangement came together. Trump said he asked how much the work would cost, and the friend who reached out to him replied that it would be free. Trump said he responded, “I’ll take it.”
Scotts Miracle-Gro announced in June that it was giving $1 million to the National Park Service. The money was meant to help restore the White House South Lawn after the UFC fight held on June 14 for America 250, which coincided with Trump’s 80th birthday.
The company donated $500,000 to a pro-Trump political action committee in 2024. Scotts Miracle-Gro and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. This is not the only White House project where Trump has spoken about the source of funding, he has previously made claims about paying for a walkway himself.
Monday’s remarks add to a pattern of Trump publicly endorsing companies that have done something connected to him or his administration. Last year, Trump appeared with Tesla vehicles at the White House and said he planned to buy one to support Elon Musk, who was then a close ally working at the Department of Government Efficiency.
This year, Trump encouraged the public to buy Dell computers. That came after Michael Dell said he would fund Trump Accounts for children. Trump also praised Walmart for lowering prices on some products, saying the move came at the White House’s request, though the retailer did not confirm that claim. Reports have also examined how much of his White House spending actually costs taxpayers, despite earlier assurances that such projects would come at no public cost.
Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said this kind of arrangement raises concerns. “Favors don’t stay favors. Sooner or later, they turn into invoices,” Hurt said. “The only question is whether the public gets to see them.”
Hurt also said that when a president promotes a company this way, it can create the impression that the company was not chosen based on merit. She said documented, competitive bidding for government contracts is considered the standard practice, and that skipping it can weaken public trust in the idea that government decisions are made for the public rather than for friends or favors.
Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said presidents generally should not endorse private companies. He said Monday’s comments about the grass did not surprise him. “In the Bush administration, it would’ve been a categorical, ‘No way. We’re not doing that,'” Painter told Business Insider. “You don’t get to do the White House lawn for free and have us promote your company.”
Painter added that avoiding this kind of endorsement was strictly enforced during the Bush and Obama administrations. He said the first Trump administration changed that approach. “We’ve gone so far in this direction of normalizing this kind of behavior,” Painter said.
Published: Aug 4, 2026 01:15 pm