DONALD TRUMP donated his paycheck to the Department of Health and Human Services and its efforts to contain COVID-19 coronavirus, it has been revealed.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham took to Twitter this past Tuesday to reveal that the President had handed over his quarterly pay of $100,000.
Trump “is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus,” she tweeted.
He is the third president, after both Herbert Hoover and Irish-American favourite John F. Kennedy, to refuse to draw a salary while in office.
Under law, President Trump has to be paid.
While $100,000 is a drop in the ocean compared with the amount required to tackle the outbreak, the donations are largely viewed as symbolic.
President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office. Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/R6KUQmBRl1
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) March 3, 2020
News of President Trump’s donation drew contrasting responses.
Piers Morgan was among those to praise the move, asking his followers on Twitter: “Trump never gets any credit for this, but how many other world leaders do it?”
Robert Maguire, research director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was less convinced though, branding it “a meaningless gimmick.”
"President Trump's decision not to divest his businesses netted him $434 million in personal revenue in 2018 alone – the last year for which data is available. That's a thousand times more than his presidential salary,” he tweeted.
