“…I’m only one in the world who could raise nearly $6 million for the veterans, have uniform applause by the veterans’ groups and end up being criticized by the press”. Since then, the completely unreasonable media has asked Trump-a man with an extremely loose conception of charitable giving-to account for where those many millions went.
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Here is the Trump exchange with Llamas that prompted the “sleaze” label, according to Llamas. That is Donald Trump.
“I didn’t want credit”, he repeatedly protested, adding that he initially planned to split his $1 million between three groups but felt rushed to by pressure from reporters to get it out sooner to a group that required less vetting.
Veterans against Trump said the candidate is using them for political gain. During the conference, Trump spent much of his time on stage railing against “the media” for bringing to light the fact that he publicly overestimated the amount of money raised by his Iowa fundraiser.
Trump, despite the fundraising miscalculations, is the only candidate still in the running to personally donate money to veterans charities while campaigning.
Trump said it took time to disperse the funds because he had to check up on each of the charities.
Keller said he thought that concerns over the veterans donations had been cleared up, and that the story would no longer hurt Trump. “I don’t want the credit for it, but I shouldn’t be lambasted”. Trump’s remarks sent a signal to other Republicans reluctant to support him. “Just many of you”, Trump interjected. Tim Combs, executive director of Americans for Independent Living, confirmed his organization received the donation in February, and The Central Iowa Shelter also received a donation from Trump in February.
Echoing that theme, Trump declined to answer a question from ABC’s Tom Llamas, directly calling him a “sleazy guy”. “When I raise money for the veterans, and it’s a massive amount of money”.
The criticism Trump had received after the fundraiser to benefit veterans all began after the Republican presidential nominee himself stated that he had raised $6 million during the fundraiser.
“Trump has been evasive and dishonest about this money, and only after being confronted for attempting to defraud vets was he shamed into accounting for the missing funds”, the group said in a release.
A CNN report in April, for example, found $2.9 million dispersed to 27 veterans organizations.
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But Trump’s political critics called the donation confusion another example of his questionable character, and said the repeated inquiries into the missing money were the only reason he ended up giving out any cash. Corey Lewandowski told the Washington Post that Trump had actually raised $4.5 million; Trump said that he’d donated $1 million of his own money, and no one seemed to know whether that $1 million factored into the $4.5 million or the $6 million or what. A week later, Trump told the paper the sum was $5.5 million, while disputing that he had ever promised $6 million.
