Trump Finally Caves, Gives Money to Vets After Media Badgers Him Into It

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Our story so far: on January 28, Donald Trump pledged $1 million at a charity fundraiser for veterans. Four months later, after considerable digging, the Washington Post was unable to find any evidence that he had made good on his pledge, so they asked his campaign manager about it. On Friday, Corey Lewandowski said “The money is fully spent. Mr. Trump’s money is fully spent.” So who did he give it to? “He’s not going to share that information.”

So the Post kept digging all day Monday. Finally, on Tuesday, we learned that Lewandowski had lied. Trump had not, in fact, given any money to anyone:

Trump said in an interview Tuesday that he pledged the $1 million to the Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation. The mogul notified the group’s chairman, retired FBI official James Kallstrom, in a phone call sometime Monday night, according to Kallstrom’s wife, Sue Kallstrom.

The Washington Post had been querying charities on social media, trying to find evidence that his $1 million had been received by any veterans’ groups. Trump fulfilled his pledge hours later, it appears.

Why had it taken almost four months? “You have a lot of vetting to do,” Trump said….When asked if the Monday donation was in response to questions from the news media, Trump said: “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.”

Even for Trump, this is inexplicable. Whenever you think he can’t possibly be a bigger douche, he proves you wrong. What a revolting human being he is.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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