Brooke Rollins Got a Huge Bonus From a Pro-Trump Think Tank Before Becoming Agriculture Secretary

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins received a massive parting gift from her pro-Trump nonprofit organization before leaving to join the government, according to previously unreported tax records obtained by NOTUS.

Rollins received a $300,000 bonus from America First Policy Institute last year, part of an $809,000 compensation package, the tax records indicate.

The $809,000 that America First Policy Institute’s tax return says Rollins received is also less than the nearly $1.1 million Rollins herself reported receiving on a separate executive branch financial disclosure, which similarly covers financial activity during 2024 — but also the first eight days of 2025.

The discrepancy suggests Rollins may have received an additional $240,000 in early January.

“Bonuses are awarded at the discretion of the board for exceptional work that advances the mission and goals of the organization,” America First Policy Institute said in a statement to NOTUS.

America First Policy Institute did not respond to questions via email and phone about the discrepancy. Neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture nor Rollins responded to requests for comment.

Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning ethics watchdog that’s frequently clashed with the Trump administration, said the discrepancy indicates there was either an extra payment in January or there was an error on the tax document, known as a Form 990.

“I’m not sure that there’s any other explanation,” Brown said.

Brendan Fischer, director of strategic investigations at Campaign Legal Center, told NOTUS that if America First Policy Institute gave Rollins a six-figure payment just before she joined Trump’s Cabinet on top of the $300,000 bonus, as the financial disclosure suggests, “it would certainly look a lot like a golden parachute.”

“When an employer pays a large bonus to an individual as they enter public service, it can function as a reward for future access or favorable treatment, rather than compensation for past work,” Fischer said.

The Biden administration generally banned incoming appointees from accepting “golden parachute” payments from their employers. Trump did not adopt the Biden-era ethics guidelines.

Rollins co-founded the America First Policy Institute in 2021 to advance an “America First” policy agenda. It proved instrumental in drafting hundreds of executive orders Trump could sign as president and created a policy platform, The America First Agenda, which, like the Heritage Foundation’s better-known Project 2025, detailed a series of actions a Trump administration could take to transform government.

While Rollins was not the only America First Policy Institute executive to see a bump in her bonus last year, her 2024 compensation dwarfs her earnings from each of the preceding three years.

Prior to receiving $809,000 in 2024, Rollins made $560,592 from America First Policy Institute in 2023, which includes a $50,000 bonus, according to tax documents made available on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.

In 2022, Rollins received $560,773 in compensation from America First Policy Institute — including another $50,000 bonus.

In 2021, she earned $426,835.

Cabinet secretaries make $250,600 per year, according to Office of Personnel Management salary disclosures.

Rollins isn’t the only Trump administration official to receive a six-figure parting gift from groups aligned with the president’s agenda.

America First Legal gave an extra $175,000 to now-White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and $275,000 to Gene Hamilton, who returned to the nonprofit in June as president after joining the second Trump administration as deputy White House counsel, NOTUS previously reported.

Other America First Policy Institute executives besides Rollins received bigger bonuses last year, which Fischer said makes the pattern “a little less clear.” But Brown told NOTUS that the “optics” aren’t great.

“These are the things that make the public have questions about what are the unspoken agreements of the people coming in to work in the administration,” Brown said.

As for America First Policy Institute itself, the organization posted record revenue in 2024, raking in $50.8 million. That’s up from $28.7 million in 2023, according to tax documents.

As a nonprofit, America First Policy Institute does not legally have to disclose its funders. And while tax filings show both America First Policy Institute and America First Legal received a large influx of cash in 2024 from the right’s “dark money” giant DonorsTrust, the ultimate source of the funds remains obscured.

Donor-advised funds have been used to anonymously funnel “dark money” to groups on the left and the right. DonorsTrust President and CEO Lawson Bader previously told NOTUS that the ability to give anonymously was a benefit of using donor-advised funds.