New York – Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump provided details Tuesday of the charities that received millions of dollars from a veterans’ fundraiser he held earlier this year following sustained pressure from media outlets trying to account for the promised funds.
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Trump told reporters at a news conference in New York that his fundraiser, held in boycott of a Fox News presidential debate, raised $5.6 million, responding to questions about the amount raised and how those funds were directed.
Trump sharply criticized the news media for asking questions about what happened to contributions he raised for U.S. military veterans groups.
“The press should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said at a press conference at Trump Tower Tuesday morning. “You make me look very bad. I’ve never received such bad publicity for doing a good job.”
He called an ABC News reporter at the event “sleazy.”
“The money’s all been sent,” Trump said
Trump read out a list of veterans’ organizations that had received money from the January event, which he attended instead of participating in a Fox News-sponsored candidates’ debate.
Trump had claimed that he raised $6 million through a combination of pledges from wealthy friends, the public and $1 million from himself after a splashy telethon-style fundraiser he held in Iowa in January in place of the Fox debate.
But his campaign refused to disclose which charities had received the money for months, leading some to speculate that the money raised was less than he had claimed.
“It was very unfair that the press treated us so badly,” Trump complained.
Trump turned the microphone over briefly to Al Baldasaro, a Trump supporter and a veteran from New Hampshire who also skewered the news media, saying reporters should “get your head out of your butt and focus on the real issues.”
Local New York Veteran affiliated with the group “the #VetsVsHate” are planning a protest outside Trump Tower to complain that Trump “has used veterans as political props.”
“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.
Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had originally told the Washington Post that the event had raised about $4.5 million — less than the $6 million originally announced by Trump — because some who’d pledged contributions had backed out. He’d also said all the money had been given out.
Trump contradicted those comments when he told the paper that the total raised was higher and that his team had been busy vetting the groups.
T-Rump is been evasive and dishonest about everything.
“Attacks the Press.” Well, how about the way the Press has been portraying him so demeaningly all this time?
He is an American version of Hugo Chavez. He has no respect for the freedom of the press, no respect for the judiciary and bullys and intimidates opponents. It is unfortunate that so many are foolish enough to support him.
Notice how the first thing he says is that the press made him look bad. That’s very telling: it’s all about his ego.
I agree 100% with Trump, when he refers to the media as dishonest, and sleazy. I’m glad that there is finally a Presidential candidate, who has the guts to confront the lying dishonest press. Even George W. Bush and Dick Chaney couldn’t stand certain members of the media; neither could Richard Nixon, or even John F. Kennedy, or Lyndon Johnson. However, none of them had the guts which Trump has, when he rebukes biased reporters in public. I qvell when Trump gives it to those lying dogs. I know that there are those on this site who can’t stand Trump. However, it will be far worse under Ms. Hilary or Bernie!