Hillary Clinton dismissed her Republican opponent’s “stunt” to raise money for veterans in a Tuesday CNN interview, saying it proves “the difference between what Donald Trump says and what Donald Trump does.”
“He’s bragged for months about raising $6 million for veterans and donating a million dollars himself,” Clinton told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “But it took a reporter to shame him into actually making his contribution and getting the money to veterans. So look, I’m glad he finally did but I don’t know that he should get much credit for that.”
Trump skipped out on a January GOP debate in order to raise money for veterans’ charities but never announced how much the fundraiser took in or where the funds were going until The Washington Post published a story questioning his claims last week. The Associated Press reported that about half of the 41 organizations to which Trump’s campaign donated received checks in the past week, typically dated May 24, the day the Post’s story was published.
In a testy press conference at Trump Tower on Tuesday, Trump announced that he’d raised $5.6 million—just under the $6 million he initially said the event earned—and insisted that journalists “should be ashamed of themselves” for asking where the money went.
“Instead of being like, ‘Thank you very much, Mr. Trump,’ or ‘Trump did a good job,’ everyone’s saying, ‘Who got it? Who got it? Who got it?’ And you make me look very bad,” Trump told the assembled reporters. “I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.”
Trump also knocked Clinton, saying she’s given “nothing” to US veterans.
Clinton waved away the accusation in her CNN interview, saying she has donated to veterans charities, raised funds for a rehabilitation facility for wounded soldiers, and worked on the Armed Services Committee as a senator to increase death benefits for families of those killed in combat.
“So much of the work that I’ve done has meant tens of millions of dollars in increased benefits to veterans and their families as well as a personal commitment,” the former secretary of state claimed.