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US President Donald Trump has said he is pledging one million US dollars from his personal money to help fund relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana following Hurricane Harvey.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement at a briefing on Thursday.
She said Trump is calling on reporters to help decide which specific organization he should give to.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump return to the White House in Washington, DC, from Texas after viewing the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey on August 29, 2017.
Reporter : "Can you speak to what the President and his family have done regarding donations for Harvey relief, personally?"
Sanders : "Yes I can... he's pledging a million dollars of personal money to the fund. And he's actually asked that I check with the folks in this room, since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective in helping and providing aid."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked reporters to decide which charities President Donald Trump's donation should go to.
Trump used a similar "reporters decide" gimmick at the beginning of his administration, that time with his presidential salary, which he is declining to accept.
Then-press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a March briefing that Trump "has kindly asked you all determine where that goes."
A few weeks later, the White House announced that Trump had decided to give his first three months of salary to the Interior Department; his second three months worth went to the Education Department.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk to board Air Force One on August 29, 2017 en route to Texas to view the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Trump has been criticized in the past for giving far less of his income to charitable causes than many other multi-billionaires. And he hasn't followed through on previous charity pledges.
In one high-profile example last year, he failed to give a promised one million US dollars of his own money – plus another five million US dollars he said he'd raised – to veterans' organizations until reporters asked questions months later about who had received the charity.
Harvey's flood waters have heavily damaged tens of thousands of homes across Texas and killed at least 30 people.
The storm is now threatening the region near the Texas-Louisiana state line.
(AP)
