Concern is mounting that taxpayers could be left holding the bag if the Obama Presidential Center runs into financial trouble, as the foundation behind it has yet to establish a promised $470 million safety net to guard against a public bailout.The scrutiny comes as a Fox News Digital investigation found multiple contractors and subcontractors claiming losses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions on the project, with some alleging they remain locked in payment disputes and face financial ruin just days before the center's grand opening.Under its agreement with the city, the Obama Foundation pledged to create the fund, known as an endowment, as part of its 99-year deal to take control of the publicly owned 19.3-acre section of Jackson Park for a one-time payment of just $10.Fox News Digital previously reported that the foundation had deposited just $1 million into the reserve fund in 2021 and that the balance remained largely unchanged in its most recent publicly available filings.A split image shows the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side and former President Barack Obama.Questions have been raised about the center's endowment funding and long-term financial safeguards as the project prepares to open.
(Fox News Flight Team; Angelina Katsanis-Pool/Getty Images)VALERIE JARRETT EARNED $740K AS OBAMA INSIDERS FILLED TOP ROLES DURING $850M PRESIDENTIAL CENTER BUILDConcerns about the center’s financial state have raged for years, especially since construction delays and costs have ballooned from an original estimate of roughly $330 million to at least $850 million based on 2021 figures.An updated final projected cost has not been made public.Endowment concerns"One of their core promises was they were supposed to create an endowment as basically an insurance policy so the taxpayers wouldn’t get stuck with the bill," Illinois GOP Chair Robert Grogan told Fox News Digital outside the center last week as worker vehicles ...