During the 2016 election, then-candidate Donald Trump promised voters that he would not accept a taxpayer-funded salary during his time in the White House.
This is one of many pledges the president has fulfilled since taking office, and the donation of his salary for the most recent fiscal quarter is just the latest example of Trump staying true to his word.
Salary donated
On March 18, President Trump posted a picture to Twitter of a signed personal check for $100,000 made out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Trump announced the donation in a tweet that included a jab at the mainstream media he said would probably be reluctant to report what most Americans would almost certainly consider to be an extremely generous gesture.
He also noted the unfortunate likelihood that media skeptics would question, as they did last year, whether he in fact followed through with his promise, had he not released photographic proof.
Donated to Homeland Security
The Daily Caller reported that, despite Trump’s vow to not accept a taxpayer-funded salary, he is required by law to accept one.
Thus, he has made it a habit of instantly donating his quarterly paycheck to one government agency or another for a cause or agenda item about which he cares personally.
The donation to DHS is intended to go toward border security and immigration enforcement-related costs.
Other donation beneficiaries
Trump’s salary for the prior fiscal quarter, received in January, was donated toward the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a subject near and dear to the president, whose older brother Fred Jr. was lost to alcohol addiction decades ago.
The Daily Caller noted that past recipients of salary donations from the president include the Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration and the National Park Service.
Other than President Trump, only former Presidents Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy donated their presidential salaries while serving in office.