The Washington Post has been on a fact-checking mission regarding Donald Trump’s claims of having donated millions of dollars to charity. After reaching out to over 200 charities with ties to Donald Trump, they have only been able to find one personal donation from Trump to a charity, totaling less than $10,000.
Busted. And so shocking that Donald Trump would make an assertion that he couldn’t actually back up with those pesky things called “facts” and “evidence.” Usually he’s so great about backing up what comes out of his mouth.
This investigative reporting by the Washington Post did not please golden boy Eric Trump, who called them up on Wednesday and unleashed a profane-laced denouncement of their reporting. The Post said he stated at one point:
“I’m just saying, Jesus Christ, why is this guy trying to f—— kill us?”
Eric then assured WaPo that his father gives “millions and millions” of his own money to charities. He even boasted that his figure included hundreds of thousands of dollars to his own charity, the Eric Trump Foundation:
“My father has given me and my foundation hundreds of thousands of dollars. And he’s given other charities millions and millions and millions of dollars.”
Three “millions.” That’s intense.
As any thorough and professional reporter would do, WaPo asked Eric Trump if he could provide details of his father’s extremely generous personal gifts to the Eric Trump Foundation, to provide confirmation that the donations actually existed. Eric Trump said he would “ask the guys upstairs if the information could be released” because they “don’t typically like to do that.”
Guess what happened next. Go ahead, just take a guess.
At around 5:30 pm on Wednesday, the Washington Post received an email from Eric Trump stating he would not provide any details. He told them:
“We are going to maintain anonymity. Hope you understand… My father likes to keep some anonymity. It’s who he is. It’s who he is as a person.”
Right.
Well, Eric Trump apparently doesn’t quite understand what “anonymity” means. This doesn’t fall under the category of “anonymity.” He is making a claim that his father gave his charity hundreds of thousands of dollars, out of the goodness of his huge, generous, beautiful, big heart. Nothing about that is anonymous. It’s already been grandstanded.
Not to mention, nothing about Donald Trump is anonymous. This is a guy seeking the highest office of the land. We’re way past anonymity, son.
Perhaps what he meant to say was, “We are going to maintain our avoidance of providing evidence, seeing as we either don’t actually have any, or providing proof would lead to further questions about something we don’t want to answer.”
Eric Trump also spoke briefly about the inquiry into the Donald J. Trump Foundation’s $12,000 purchase of a football helmet signed by Tim Tebow. Tax experts have already solidified that Trump would have violated IRS rules had he bought that helmet for himself using the nonprofit organization’s money. Eric’s explanation of the autographed helmet in question?
“Knowing him, he probably gave that helmet to a child.”
Right. Because we know Donald Trump. And if there’s one thing we know about him, he’s all about the children. Unless they’re Mexican. Or Muslim. Or gay. Or Jewish. But really. He probably just totally gave it away.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member