by Jason Hopkins
President Donald Trump announced that he is donating $100,000 of his salary to the Department of Homeland Security, following a promise he made before entering office.
While the press doesn’t like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security. If I didn’t do it there would be hell to pay from the FAKE NEWS MEDIA! pic.twitter.com/xqIGUOwh4x
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2019
“While the press doesn’t like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security,” the president tweeted on Monday. “If I didn’t do it there would be hell to pay from the FAKE NEWS MEDIA!”
Trump pledged not to accept a salary during the 2016 presidential campaign, but he is by law required to do so. After entering the Oval Office, he has opted to donate his annual $400,000 salary to various agencies every quarter.
The president in January directed his $100,000 paycheck to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a department that “conducts research on the impact of alcohol use on human health and well-being,” according to its website. The donation was more personal for Trump, whose late brother, Fred Trump Jr., died nearly four decades ago after battling alcohol addiction.
Other agencies that have been beneficiaries of Trump’s salary includes the National Park Service, Department of Transportation, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and others. John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover are the only other U.S. presidents to refuse a salary while in office.
The most recent donation will help fund the Department of Homeland Security’s operations on the border and other immigration enforcement activities.
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Jason Hopkins is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Jason on Twitter.
Background Photo “Donald Trump’s Donation Check” by Donald Trump.
