When billionaire showman Donald Trump shocked pundits and decided to skip a Fox News debate due to clash with the network and his ongoing Twitter campaign against Megyn Kelly, he announced he’d hold his own event at the same time, and raise millions for veterans groups. Some suggested he was using veterans as political props. So he did hold his own event, which was battered in the ratings by the Fox News debate. But Team Trump announced that it had raised over $6 million.
AHA! Take THAT, Fox News! So the money would go to a good cause.
!!
There’s one little, teenie, weenie hitch:
Only a fraction of the money from the event in January has reached veterans groups.
Donald Trump drew much fanfare when he skipped a Republican debate in January to host a rally that he has said raised millions of dollars for veterans, but one question has lingered since the event: Where’s the money?
The Trump campaign said the event raised $6 million for different veterans groups, with Trump himself contributing $1 million, but details released by the campaign Thursday show only about half of that money has been dispersed so far.
The campaign did not provide specifics earlier this week, but after a CNN report aired Thursday morning questioning the contributions, a spokeswoman shared a list in the afternoon showing 27 veterans organizations that have received a total of $2.9 million to date.
The Trump campaign’s response? A response you’d expect. They immediately go on the attack against those who raise question, a time-tested tactic by politicians seeking to deflect from the question raised by the news media.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNN the contributions will continue as money comes in and she critiqued what she describes as misplaced scrutiny on the fundraiser.
“If the media spent half as much time highlighting the work of these groups and how our veterans have been so mistreated, rather than trying to disparage Mr. Trump’s generosity for a totally unsolicited gesture for which he had no obligation, we would all be better for it,” Hicks said Thursday.
So asking where the $6 million has gone — a question that could be answered with specificity including where money not distributed will eventually go and when — is somehow disparaging Trumps’ generosity.
Charities don’t see that as what the question is all about.
Yet the vice president for Charity Navigator, Sandra Miniutti, said she believes the money should have already been dispersed.
Miniutti said some fundraisers rightfully take time to distribute payments if the recipients have to be vetted, such as after public emergencies, but she said Trump’s campaign established a clear list of organizations to benefit.
“There is no hard rule for turn-around time, but because the fundraising was so public, I think it’s fair to question why the funds haven’t been paid out,” Miniutti said.
According to a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal, only 19 of the 22 groups originally listed by Trump’s presidential campaign as beneficiaries of the funds have received any funds at all. And of the funds disbursed, only $2.4 million of the estimated $6 million Trump’s event generated have been donated to veterans’ charities.
Trump skipped out on the GOP debate because of an ongoing feud with Fox News over Megyn Kelly. But rather than bowing out, Trump held his own event, with its own counter-programming, just three miles away from the Republican debate. And while the remaining Republicans brawled over foreign policy, Trump put on a show. In fact, Trump himself likened his fundraiser to the Academy Awards.
During the fundraiser, Trump directed donors to a website, which allowed them to donate money to the Donald J. Trump Foundation. The website claimed that 100 percent of all funds donated would go directly to veterans’ needs.
But two months later, and only a percentage of the money donated for veterans’ needs has been given out, with no word on when further funds may be released.
One of the organizations surveyed would not disclose how much it has received from Trump’s charitable foundation, while another said that it needed to submit more paperwork before receiving funds. A third group didn’t respond at all to multiple inquiries. Most of the veterans’ groups reported receiving checks through the mail from the Donald J. Trump Foundation in increments of $50,000 or $100,000 in late February. Those organizations who received checks in March reported smaller donations that averaged between $5,000 and $15,000.
Hope Hicks, a spokesperson from the Trump campaign, defended Trump’s disbursement of only a fraction of the $6 million raised for veterans.
“Mr. Trump has distributed many of the contributions to a number of worthy organizations, and will continue to do so,” said Hicks.
Hicks declined, however, to break down into specifics how much the various groups have received to date, or the total distributed from all monies raised from the January 29 event. Furthermore, an accountant for the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for a comment.
As I’ve noted many times, as someone who was a fulltime reporter for many years, if a news subject doesn’t resepond to a request in an unflattering story it’s usually a sign that they either have something to hide, or hope the story will simply go away if they don’t answer (in mosts cases it in facts means MORE stories on the same subject).
The issue isn’t whether something unsavory went on with the money. The issues are:
1. Did Trump really raise and donate as much as he promised? Sorry, Mr. Trump, but assertions are not just taken at face value. It’s almost four months now so it’s a legit question why the charities did not get their money i-m-m-e-d-a-t-e-l-y given the need.
2. The continued decline of the news media as formidable watchdog. Media size cutbacks, decreased budgets, less money spent then in years past on investigative reporting, and the impact of social media, popular ideological talkers, and the hyperactive nature of the media have made it easier for a story like this to pop up — then fade from view.
Once upon the time the media would be all over it until a)the question was answered totally and in detail b)there was some quick action to get the money distributed to the needy groups and c)the media would not let up on this story until they got an answer or the money was distributed.
Without proof of the money having been distributed, it suggests incompetence on the part of Trump’s organization, or that the money that was reportedly raised or donated even by Mr. Trump was inflated to suggest the event was a bigger success than it was. It did not prove to be a ratings bonanza that hurt the televised event; it was supposed to be a financial bonanza for veterans groups.
So far, it has not proven to qualify as that — all the PR spin and CYA statements to the contrary.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.