At the Washington Post, reporter David Fahrenthold writes that Donald Trump appears to have raised significantly less for veterans’ groups than he originally claimed after his January fundraiser:
According to Lewandowski, some donors who pledged money the night of the fundraiser “backed out and gave nothing.” As for Trump’s own pledge at the time?
“Lewandowski also said he did not know whether a $1 million pledge from Trump himself was counted as part of the $4.5 million total. He said Trump has given that amount, but he declined to identify any recipients,” Fahrenthold writes.
The Trump campaign has not made it easy for the public to know exactly how much money has been disbursed to the 22 veterans’ groups listed by the Donald J. Trump Foundation as recipients. Fahrenthold reports none of the charities have received a check from Trump himself, and that the presumptive Republican nominee told the Post he did not “have to give you records” about how much his foundation has given away.
In the weeks following the fundraiser, THE WEEKLY STANDARD spoke with officials from several of those groups. While some said they had yet to receive money, others confirmed they had received checks for $100,000 or $50,000, with the total in February adding up to under $1 million accounted. Some of those groups received checks not from Trump’s foundation but from the Stewart J. Rahr Foundation, which is headquartered in Trump Tower and is the namesake of a Manhattan businessman friendly with Trump.
