Day 226: Trump Backs Off Pledge to Give $1 Million of Personal Money to Harvey Relief

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders proudly announced to the world that Donald Trump would donate $1 million of personal money to aid the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Well, when pushed just a day later asking if the money would actually be coming from Trump or his foundation, Sanders stuttered and said she hadn’t had the opportunity to clarify where the money would be coming from.

It may seem like a minor detail, but the alleged billionaire is notoriously stingy when it comes to charitable giving and as of last year hadn’t donated money to his own foundation in eight years.

But when it comes to his own charity — The Donald J. Trump Foundation — the Republican presidential nominee has not donated any money since his last contribution in 2008.

A review of the Trump Foundation’s tax records by CNN finds that although the charity has received more than $4 million in contributions from other organizations and individuals and in turn donated millions to various charitable causes since 2009, Trump has not made any personal contributions to the foundation in that time.

The charity appears to have functioned in recent years as a conduit that disburses money donated by third-parties, such as World Wrestling Entertainment, which donated $1 million in 2009, and $500,000 in 2012 from NBC Universal, the company that contracted Trump’s show “The Apprentice.”

So while a million dollars is a million dollars and the people of Eastern Texas will gladly take every penny they can get, Trump may be simply donating other people’s money and reaping the public relations benefits while his bank account remains exactly the same.

226 days in, 1236 to go

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