Trump Gives $1M Donation To Veterans Group After WaPo Calls Him Out On It

In this May 20, 2016 photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association convention, in Louisville, Ky. Hillary Clinton has a message for Donald Trump: Bring it on. As Clint... In this May 20, 2016 photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association convention, in Louisville, Ky. Hillary Clinton has a message for Donald Trump: Bring it on. As Clinton's path to the Democratic nomination seems all-but-assured, friends, aides and supporters describe a candidate who is not only prepared to tune out Trump's increasingly direct attacks on her husband's personal indiscretions but believes they will eventually benefit her presidential aspirations. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) MORE LESS
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GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump reportedly made moves Monday to give $1 million to a veterans group four months after first vowing to do so and after The Washington Post pressed him on it.

Trump reportedly called up retired FBI official James Kallstrom, chairman of the Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation, to pledge the money to his organization, according to Kallstrom’s wife who confirmed the call to Washington Post’s David A. Fahrenthold.

Fahrenthold had been tracking the money Trump raised in a fundraiser in January to benefit veterans groups after the real estate mogul refused to attend the Fox News Republican presidential debate.

Trump had said at the night of the fundraiser that he and his supporters (including a number of his rich friends) had raised $6 million, but Trump’s top aide, Corey Lewandowski, said on Friday that the true total was actually about $4.5 million.

Lewandowski also said that the money had been “fully spent.”

Trump told The Washington Post that he never said he had raised $6 million and didn’t “have the tape of it.” Trump can be heard in video recording of the event saying they had “just cracked $6 million.”

The presumptive nominee said that he didn’t think any of the donors had backed out, and had harsh words for Fahrenthold when the reporter asked Trump if he agreed to give the money in response to pressure from the media.

“You know, you’re a nasty guy. You’re really a nasty guy. I gave out millions of dollars that I had no obligation to do,” Trump said.

Trump railed against the “dishonest media” in a video posted on Instagram on Tuesday, again reiterating that he raised $6 million — including $1 million of his own money. He said the coverage was “disgraceful” and that media outlets should instead investigate the Clinton Foundation, run by former President Bill Clinton and his wife and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately return TPM’s request for comment.

Read the full Washington Post article.

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Notable Replies

  1. I’m shocked that a draft dodging coward with a boo boo on his foot would lie about helping veterans!

  2. Well, at least now he’ll have enough charitable contributions to make it smart for him to itemize his deductions. Not like before.

  3. He’s making it too easy to call him out. He raised at least $4.5 million, personally donated $1M, and the rest is where? Poor guy, surrounded by so much dishonesty and so little ability to keep track of what he’s done.

    Trump also said he had never actually promised that the fundraiser had raised $6 million. “I didn’t say six,” Trump said.

    In a video of the event, Trump tells the crowd at the end, “We just cracked $6 million! Right? $6 million.”

    When asked about that quote, Trump said, "Well, I don’t. I don’t have the notes. I don’t have the tape of it."

    Fuck it, we’ll do it live.

  4. What a sleeze bag. He never would have coughed up the money if WaPo had not pursued it. You can be sure he would have written it off his taxes even if he never did make the payment.

  5. Trump told The Washington Post that he never said he had raised $6 million [but] Trump can be heard in video recording of the event saying they had ‘just cracked $6 million’…"

    “I think I’m almost too honest to be a politician.” – Donald Trump

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