When Donald Trump was campaigning for president last year, he said that he was going to donate all his annual presidential income of about 400,000 USD the moment he was voted into office. A move by the president of barely two months shows that he is indeed intent on living up to that promise.
Early on Monday morning, White House spokesperson Soan Spice began his daily brief to the press by unveiling President Trump’s signed check, signing over all his earnings from the moment he took over the presidency on January 20th of this year. The amount total was USD 78,332.32.
Spice presented the check to Secretary for the Interior Ryan Zinke and Superintendent of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Tyrone Brandyburg before the reporters gathered at Washington. The National Park is located in West Virginia.
The move made by President Trump was not unprecedented. During their terms, John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoovers also did not take their share of the administrative salaries. A point to note is that both men were rich for their times. As of today, Forbes values President Trump at 3.5 billion USD.
Spicer said in his press release that President Trump was proud of having been able even in a small way to contribute towards the preservation of the park, which has been around since the early part of the twentieth century. Spice also noted that the president would be contributing towards the park’s mission of ‘preserving national security for the sake of future generations.’
When questioned as to how the president came up with a receiver for his salary, Spice quoted that President Trump had encouraged the media to send up some requests as to where the money should go in 2016. The White House advisors, along with President Trump’s lawyers, handed him a list of departments he could give to. Spice emphasized how hard it had been to scrap the list together. “It turns out it is really hard to give your money to the federal government,” he remarked. “That is, except for the IRS.”
Zinke did not seem to mind the donation. “I was thrilled that my department was chosen to receive the funds,” the Interior Secretary said.
Questions were raised
The gift cash Trump handed over was met with some skepticism , however. The reason for that response is that the budget that Trump revealed to the public last month is set to bring the funding for the Interior down by almost twelve percent. Critics say that the money President Trump gave is not enough to cover the deficit that department will have when the new budget is in place.
Donald Trump reacted to that statement by clarifying his reasons for the budget cut. He stated that the cuts were not meant to stifle the department but were being diverted to kick-start development projects that had previously been stalled.
No matter what the motive behind giving up his income, President Trump at least proved that the promises he makes count for something.
