It sure seemed fishy when Trump announced yesterday that he would be holding a rally today in support of “veterans,” especially given that his go-to veterans organization Wounded Warrior Project new nothing about the event. Ever the salesman, Trump even set up a website that people could donate to if they couldn’t make the rally. What a great guy, raising money for the veterans, right?
There’s only one problem. As the Federalist discovered, the website Trump set up to allegedly help veterans diverts all donations to Trump’s personal foundation.
“Honor their valor,” the website, donaldtrumpforvets.com, states. “Donate now to help our Veterans.”
The website, which is nothing more than a single page with stock photosand a credit card donation form, claims that “100% of your donations will go directly to Veterans needs.”
There’s only one problem: 100% of the money raised on the site goes directly to Donald Trump’s personal non-profit foundation, according to a disclosure listed at the bottom of the page.
There is absolutely no accountability here for how Trump will spend this money. This is how hucksters like Trump operate. Rather than say that he’s going to raise money for a reputable vets organization – of which there are many – he diverts the money to his own sham tax shelter and hopes that his supporters never notice or demand an accounting for what was done with their money, as would be done for any 501 (c)(3) that was set up with the specific purpose for helping vets.
One assumes this means that all proceeds collected in person tonight will go to the same source. So instead of donating to “veterans,” what you’re actually doing is donating to Donald Trump’s personal foundation.
What is the record of Trump’s personal foundation? Not real great, actually. A look at their past filings shows that historically, they haven’t really done jack squat with the money they have collected over the years.
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