Campaign Promise Kept: Trump Donated 2 Presidential Paychecks To Help Fight Against Coronavirus
President Donald Trump has stayed true to his word, given on the 2016 campaign trail, to donate his salary back to the government.
When the former businessman ran for office, he pledged that he would not accept his $400,000-per-year salary.
However, because he is required by law to be paid, the president has been donating his salary each quarter to various government agencies.
For the last two quarters, he has written $100,000 checks to the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
In May, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced during a media briefing that Trump would be donating his first quarter 2020 salary “to develop new therapies for treating and preventing COVID-19 so that we can safely reopen.”
In March, McEnany announced on Twitter, “President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office.
“Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus.”
President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office. Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/R6KUQmBRl1
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) March 3, 2020
The president’s commitment to fight COVID-19 came early on.
CNBC reported March 3 that the coronavirus “had killed nine Americans, all in Washington state, and more than 100 Americans had tested positive since the outbreak was first confirmed in the United States in late February. Worldwide, more than 91,000 cases have been reported, including more than 3,100 deaths.”
Trump has often noted that he shut down travel from China in late January, just days after the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.
On Jan. 29, the White House announced the formation of the Coronavirus Task Force.
NPR reported two days later, on Jan. 31, that the president declared a public health emergency and instituted the first quarantine order in 50 years, which required people returning from China’s Wuhan Province to be kept separated from the public on military posts for 14 days.
In May, the Trump administration launched Operation Warp Speed with the goal “to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021.”
At a media briefing on Aug. 4, the president said, “Two vaccine candidates are currently in the final stage of clinical trials, with several more vaccine candidates entering phase three in the coming weeks.”
“I’m more confident than ever that we will get a vaccine very soon and we will defeat the virus.”
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