National Park Service Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg (C) and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke hold a check donated by U.S. President Donald Trump salary to the National Park Service as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (R) holds a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer shows a check from U.S. President Donald Trump's salary which will be donated to the National Park Service during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump, who made a fortune in real estate before running for political office, has decided to donate his first-quarter salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service, the White House announced on Monday.
During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would donate his $400,000 annual salary if he were elected.
"That's no big deal for me," he told a town-hall style meeting in September 2015.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose agency oversees the 100-year-old protector of 417 national parks, monuments and other sites, said he was "thrilled" at Trump's decision.
"We are going to dedicate and put it against the infrastructure on our nation's battlefields," Zinke said, appearing alongside White House spokesman Sean Spicer at a daily briefing. "We are about $229 million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone," Zinke said.
The_Peyote_Coyote on April 3rd, 2017 at 21:43 UTC »
Oooh a 78K publicity stunt against the 2 billion dollar projected budget cuts, how generous.....
aussie_jason on April 3rd, 2017 at 21:12 UTC »
Just a publicity stunt, he is planning to cut 2 billion from the Department of Interior's budget so this doesn't even make a dent in that.
angus_the_red on April 3rd, 2017 at 21:00 UTC »
Cool cool cool cool. But I'd rather see him support policies and budgets that adequately fund and protect our national parks and other public lands.
Also, didn't he ask the white house press corp to decide where the money would go?