Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a plan to create safe zones for Syrian refugees outside the United States using “other people’s money.”
Appearing at his second rally of the day in North Carolina, Trump promised that nations lining the Persian Gulf will pony up for the safe zones. He made a similar claim in August but went a step further Tuesday.
“We have almost $20 trillion,” Trump said, referring to the national debt. “So we’re going to get Gulf states who are loaded up with money — loaded up with money! We’re going to get the gulf states to pay for safe zones.”
“We’ll lead the project, like, it’s called ‘OPM.’ I do that all the time in business. It’s called ‘other people’s money,'” Trump said. “There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money because it takes the risk. You get a good chunk of it and it takes the risk.”
The comment comes at an interesting time for Trump as it coincides with new reports detailing Trump’s use of funds from his foundation, which has largely been funded by outside donors in recent years.
A new report by the Washington Post Tuesday claims that Trump used over $250,000 from the Trump Foundation to settle lawsuits involving the Republican nominee’s for-profit businesses. Past reports have also emerged that Trump used funds from the charity to purchase various items, including a Tim Tebow-signed helmet and a six-foot portrait of himself.
Yet the use of “other people’s money” is nothing new for Trump. At nearly every campaign rally he holds, Trump tells supporters that a wall will be built on the southern border of the United States, adding boisterously that Mexico will pay for the it because of the trade imbalance between the two nations.
