Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent fundraiser to raise money for veterans is coming under intense scrutiny from both the media and veteran’s groups. Trump held the event on January 28th at Drake University after refusing to participate in the GOP presidential debate scheduled for that same night. Trump decided to boycott the debate after it was announced that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly would serve as one of the debate moderators.
Trump has been locked in an on-going feud with Kelly since he took exception to questions that she posed to him during the first GOP debate. Trump’s campaign registered a website the day of the fundraiser with the domain name of DonaldTrumpForVets.com.
The site consisted of little more than stock photos, an online donation form, and a plea for donations. The site did state that 100 percent of the funds raised would go directly to veteran’s causes. The concern arises out of the fact that the email confirmation sent to donors stated that all contributions made through the site go to Trump’s personal foundation. Both Forbes and The Federalist have looked into how Trump’s foundation has allocated funds in the past and found that only one percent of foundation contributions have gone to veteran’s causes.
One veteran’s group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, has declined to accept any donations coming from the event. According to Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of IAVA, veterans need candidates who put forth strong policies and don’t use veterans for their own publicity. There is no response yet from the Trump campaign regarding the allegations.