Does Trump Take A Salary

What Does Trump Mean When He Says He Will Take No Salary

Despite Donald Trumps campaign promise that he wont take even one dollar of salary as President, the White House now says that the President is receiving his monthly paychecks and that he will donate his salary to charity at the end of the year. This raises a number of questions:

The President is paid $400,000 in monthly installments. $400,000 divided by 12 months equals $33,333.33 per month. The President apparently receives his paycheck on the 20th day of the month, with his first paycheck on February 20. So by December 31, Trump will have received 11 paychecks totaling $366,666.63, not the full $400,000. Will he donate $400,000 nonetheless?

Assuming that the answer is no and that the Presidents charitable contribution is limited to the amount received by end of year, what about interest? If Trump immediately deposits each paycheck into an Ally savings account with a 1.00% annual percentage yield , then he will have approximately $368,294.45 on December 31, of which $1,627.82 represents interest income. Will he donate the interest to charity as well?

The President might point out that hell pay $9,730.80 in Social Security taxes and $5,316.67 in Medicare taxes on his $366,666.63 of 2017 wages. So perhaps thats a reason for him to donate less than $366,666.63. Plus, the Treasury is presumably withholding Social Security and Medicare taxes as well as some income taxes from Trumps monthly paycheck, which should factor into the interest calculus above.

Trump’s Staff Is Trying To Figure Out Logistics Of Presidential Pay

The government owes Donald Trump.

Right about now, the 45th president is due to receive his first paycheck, part of a $400,000 annual salary delivered in monthly installments.

But the billionaire said during the campaign that he wouldn’t take the pay. Is he backsliding on a promise?

The White House says no, but things are more complicated.

“He is required to get a paycheck but will be giving it back to treasury or donating,” spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in email, adding that the staff was trying to determine the legal process to do so.

She declined to answer several inquiries into whether Trump has gotten a paycheck already, which would be about $33,333. In addition to the $400,000, a president is afforded a $50,000 expense account.

“I won’t take even one dollar,” Trump declared in September 2015. “I am totally giving up my salary if I become president.”

He can’t do that. Article II of the Constitution requires a president to be paid:

“The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.”

So Trump tweaked his promise. He now says he’ll accept $1 and it has added to his populist appeal.

But Congress pointed to a higher power: the Constitution.

Donald Trump On Refusing Presidential Salary: I’m Not Taking It

It wasnt long after Donald Trumps victory this week that questions began to circulate about what would happen to his business empire and income when the business mogul becomes president.

During his first television interview as president-elect on Sunday, Trump told 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl that he wouldnt take a salary as president.

Well, Ive never commented on this, but the answer is no, Trump said. I think I have to by law take $1, so Ill take $1 a year. But its a — I dont even know what it is.

Stahl reminded the president-elect, $400,000 youre giving up.

Again, Trump answered, No, Im not gonna take the salary. Im not taking it.

Now on #60Minutes: Donald Trump says he won’t take a salary when he serves as president

60 Minutes

From the very beginning, Trump has promised that hed set businesses concerns aside if he was elected. In fact, he told Face The Nation moderator John Dickerson last October that hes been phasing out his role throughout his campaign.

Look, I would cut all ties…. I wouldnt care about it, Trump told Dickerson. My kids will run it. I wouldnt want to expand very much. It wouldnt matter to me. I have a chance at making America great again thats the whole focus.

He promised last year that he would refuse to take a salary as president, too.

The first thing Im going to do is tell you that if Im elected president, Im accepting no salary, OK? Trump said. Thats not a big deal for me.

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What Do Trump Staffers Earn Salaries Of Ivanka Trump Mike Pompeo Kellyanne Conway And Others Revealed

The White House has been reporting the names, titles, and salaries of those working for the president annually here’s the latest list

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President Donald Trump has hundreds of staffers working for him but not everyone draws the same salary, with some even choosing to forego paychecks all together. Since 1995, according to the norms laid down by the Congress, the White House has reported the names, titles, and salaries of those working for the president annually. According to the latest list, around 412 people work inside the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue residence and/or the Trump administration. While many of them are known faces, seen in daily press briefings, state dinners and high profile meetings, others hold less publicized positions. There are also those who might not be working out of the White House but are employed by the president.

Top White House aides and many members of Trumps cabinet earn more than members of Congress, who annually draw a salary of $174,000. Here’s a look at the kind of paychecks that some of the more prominent names on the list take home.

Trump And The Personalization Of The Congressional Spending Power

As millions of Americans receive their coronavirus economic stimulus checks, they could be forgiven for assuming it was the president directly who paid them. After all, for the first time in history the federal government will disburse checks with the presidents name, Donald J. Trump, embossed on the memo line.

Trumps actionwhat many critics have called a politicization of money appropriated by a separate branch of governmentis not the first time that the president has personalized the cash flow in and out of government agencies. Most notably, he is also the first president in history to donate his salary to government agenciesunlike previous presidents who chose to donate their salaries, all of whom gave the money to charity. Trump has donated his salary every quarter. In March 2020, he provided it to the Department of Health and Human Services to combat coronavirus.

Trumps quarterly donations to various departments pose unique constitutional and statutory questions. The Compensation Clause requires him to accept his salary, and the Appropriations Clause tasks Congress alone with funding the executive branchboth provisions that call into question Trumps practice of helping fund the government with his own salary. These clauses are no technicalities. Rather, they ensure that the president and executive branch remain accountable to the American people.

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Trump Still Earns Money

Trump still profits off property he owns, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington and Trump Tower in New York. He also earns money from the rights to a U.K. television spinoff of “The Apprentice” and various properties in the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Scotland and the Philippines. So imprecise claims that Trump works for no money are not totally accurate.

Democratic lawmakers are appealing a case against the president because they believe that this profiting, combined with the fact that his hotels have reportedly been frequented by foreign diplomats from around the world since his term began, as The Hill reported, violates the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution.

The foreign emoluments clause states that no government official can receive gifts from king, prince or foreign state. The domestic emoluments similarly says the president cannot receive any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

For example, the New York Times reported the government of Kuwait spent tens of thousands of dollars on a gala at the Trump International Hotel in Washington from which Trump profited. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia owns a floor and pays thousands of dollars a year in common charges for building amenities at the Trump World Tower in New York, from which Trump also profits.

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A List Of Announced Recipients Of Us President Donald Trumps Donated Paychecks Since January 2017

As we previously reported, U.S. President Donald Trump did not donate his entire salary for the purpose of rebuilding military cemeteries.

However, Trump has repeatedly followed up on his pledge to donate his presidential salary. The following list documents what government projects or departments have been chosen to benefit from Trumps quarterly paychecks so far:

To be clear, this list documents announcements not receipts of Trumps donations.

We will continue to update this list as more details become available.

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Drew Scott’s Los Angeles Home Oozes Elegance Take A Tour Inside

We all know the gender wage gap in America is bad women earn 80 percent of what men earn on average but its way worse in the White House. US presidents have earned $400,000 per year since 2001, but First Ladies earn nothing. Yes, Melania Trumps salary is $0 per year.

Typically, First Ladies do a ton of work while their husbands lead the free world. They advance the goals of the administration, champion social causes, appear at state functions, and manage White House staff members. And they do all of this work which is worth an estimated salary of $173,500 totally unpaid.

You know, with the First Lady, the government gets an employee free, former US President Ronald Reagan said a 1982 interview, according to Metro.co.uk. They have her just about as busy as they have me. And often, First Ladies give up prestigious, high-paying jobs to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Hillary Clinton, for example, was a partner at Rose Law Firm in Arkansas, and Michelle Obama was earning $273,618 per year as an executive at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

Luckily, the First Lady position does come with a few perks, as Money pointed out lifelong pension, free accommodations, free travel around the world, and a personal security detail. And the only job requirement is a marriage to a US President.

Trump Boasted That He Was Foregoing A Lot Of Money

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A new report has raised questions about whether former President Donald Trump really donated his salary toward the end of his time in office, as he repeatedly did earlier in his term. Mr Trump pledged to make the donations during his campaign, in an effort to demonstrate his supposed vast wealth and that he couldnt be bought off as a politician.

Like clockwork, Mr Trump made a spectacle of donating his salary, including cutting a check emblazoned with his bold-lettered signature. In February 2018, then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao accepted the check in the White House briefing room. In March of the same year, Mr Trump boasted of the donations, calling it a lot of money.

But as The Washington Post reported on Friday, its unclear whether the money kept flowing at the end of the Trump administration.

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Fact Check: Did Trump Donate His Presidential Salary To Rebuild Military Cemeteries

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A link more than 1,500 times alleges President Donald Trump recently donated his $400,000 salary to rebuild military cemeteries.

Facebook/Screenshot

President Trump just DONATED his $400,000 SALARY again, this time for rebuilding Military Cemeteries! reads the post. Why wasnt this in the News?

Verdict: False

Trump has donated each of his quarterly paychecks to various government agencies, but none have funded rebuilding military cemeteries.

Fact Check:

Trump promisedearly in his 2016 campaign that he would refuse the annual $400,000 presidential salary afforded to him under federal law and he appears to have stuck by that promise. The image, originally posted on the social media website Parler, alleges the president recently donated his $400,000 salary for the rebuilding of military cemeteries.

Yet, while the president has contributed his salary to various government initiatives, including some military-related projects, none of these donations paid for cemetery repairs. He has never given a single agency his entire yearly salary, per FactCheck.org.

In 2017, Trump donated his first-quarter salary to the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior announced in a July 2017 statement that it would fund restoration projects at Marylands Antietam National Battlefield. Those funds, however, did not go toward the Antietam National Cemetery, according to a spokesperson from the Interior Department.

After Pledging To Donate Salary Trump Declines To Release Proof

President Donald Trump pledged to forgo a presidential salary, but as his second payday approaches, the White House is declining to say if the president has donated any of his earnings yet.

During the campaign, Trump promised he would take “no salary” if elected a pledge he reiterated after he won.

“I’m not going to the take the salary,” he said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in November.

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The Presidency Is A Moneymaking Venture For Trump

Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to divest from his business interests when he took office. As a result, he still owns and profits from the Trump Organization. And his most recent financial disclosure indicates that his $400,000 salary is peanuts compared to the money he has flowing in.

According to that disclosure, the hotel Trump owns just blocks from the White House brought in nearly $41 million in revenue in 2018, a $400,000 increase from the year before. And beyond income from Trumps numerous properties, the Trump Organization made more than $20 million in real estate sale revenues in 2018.

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Trump has also benefited from reimbursements from Secret Service expenditures at the properties he owns and profits from properties that he, and therefore the members of the Secret Service who protect him, regularly visit. Last month, the Washington Post reported on records showing nearly $500,000 in such payments and its likely there have been more expenditures where those came from, as the Secret Service has stonewalled efforts from Democratic members of Congress to get a full accounting.

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This isnt altruism, Shaub added. This is an investment in public relations as he profits off his high office.

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