Michelle Obamas Staff Was Bigger Than Melania Trumps But Numbers Are Off
According to the 2020 annual report to Congress on White House office personnel, there are eight roles directly tied to the first lady via title. But there are other staffers who work for the first lady and do not have that phrase in their title. Forbes confirmed in June that the first lady has 11 people on her staff.
In 2017, the same annual report listed four roles directly tied to the first lady via title, but at the time the report was released, Melania Trump had lived in the White House for a little over two weeks. Fox News confirmed that by October 2017 the first lady had a staff of nine.
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Michelle Obamas staff was more sizable, but also more in line with past first ladies staff sizes. A spokesperson for her confirmed to PolitiFact in 2011 that the first ladys staff size was closer to 25.
“First lady Michelle Obamas staff is no different in size than that of her predecessor, Laura Bush around 25 people and is based on a similar staffing model,” McCormick-Lelyveld said. “So suggestions that our staff is larger are wrong.
When Hillary Clinton left her role as first lady, her staff size was 19 and as McCormick-Lelyveld suggests, Laura Bushs was between 24 and 26.
Regardless, its true Trumps staff is smaller than Obamas was.
Hes Taking His Show Back On The Road And Bringing A Special Guest
In an uncharacteristicallyprecedented post-presidential move, Donald Trump is going on tour. Hell make four stops in Texas and Florida this December, sitting down with former Fox News host Bill OReilly to discuss exactly how things were accomplished, as well as challenges, both good and bad, during the four years of Mr. Trumps presidency. Regular tickets to the History Tour will cost between $100-$300, but superfans can purchase a VIP Meet & Greet Package for upwards of $8,500 if they want to attend a 45-minute pre-show reception and get a picture with the two men, who have both been accused of sexual harassment.
Per Politico, the Trump-OReilly dynamic duo are struggling to fill seats. We have concerts that are doing a lot better than this, a source told the website, noting that Bad Bunny and Kane Brown concerts at the same venue in Orlando have already sold out. Meanwhile, 60-65 percent of the Houston seats remain empty, and sales for the Sunrise, Florida, event havent met expectations. Bill OReilly these claims bullshit and threatened to sue Daniel Lippman, the author of the Politico piece.
Trump Has Donated His Presidential Salary
Trump is not the first president to donate his salary. Former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover, both wealthy before they took office, donated all their earnings. Forbes reports Trumps net worth as of July 9 at $2.1 billion, making him the first president to be a billionaire.
When Trump announced his decision to forgo a salary, critics expressed doubt because presidents are required to be compensated for their work. To get around this, Trump takes $1 each year from his paychecks.
According to news coverage and White House news releases, Trump has written checks equal to a quarter of his $400,000 annual salary every quarter to various government agencies:
2017
Trump and his constituents have not yet announced where he will donate his salary for the first and second quarters of 2020.
The president came under scrutiny for donating $100,000 to the Department of Health and Human Services after proposing a 10% budget cut totaling billions of dollars. Hes also proposed cuts totaling amounts larger than his donations for the National Parks Service and the Department of Education.
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More: Trump Fundraising For New ‘save America’ Pac While Still Contesting Election Results
The Republican National Committee also reported having $56.3 million cash in hand at the end of December 2021.
In a press release Monday, Trump’s Save America political action committee said that the $51 million was raised by the former president’s multiple committees from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2021.
The average donation Trump received between his committees was $31, with a total of 1,631,648 donations, the release said.
Notably, Trump doesn’t appear to be sharing many of his donations yet. With over $122 million in cash on hand, Trump says his PACs have only donated $1.35 million to “to like-minded causes and endorsed candidates.”
Save America’s filing shows that $1 million of that contribution went to the nonprofit Conservative Partnership Institute, which is led by a slew of Trump’s close allies, including Mark Meadows, Jim DeMint and Ed Corrigan.
Much of Save America’s money in the latter half of 2021 was spent on Facebook ads, payroll, and consulting fees for various firms, including $1.5 million paid to Tim Unes’ firm Event Strategies and $60,000 paid to former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s firm Parscale Strategy, according to the filing. More than $240,000 also went to legal spending, the filing shows.
Analysis: Trump Is A Fundraising Giant But His Miserly Spending Raises Questions
Former President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters during the Save America Rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida, U.S. July 3, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, March 22 – Former President Donald Trump’s Save America group has quickly become one of the top Republican fundraising organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 congressional elections.
But so far it has been stingy with its spending on Republican efforts to win in November compared to the expenditures of other groups, according to a Reuters analysis of financial disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission.
Trump has already drawn attention for giving only small amounts to Republican candidates, but the findings of the Reuters analysis showing the sharp contrast in spending have not been previously reported.
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Since Trump founded Save America in November 2020, the group has raised $124 million — the largest war chest ever built by an ex-president — but spent only about $14 million, or around 11%. Much of that has gone to funding rallies and ads that ostensibly promote Republicans running for Congress but focus more on Trump himself.
Save America’s limited spending has raised questions among campaign finance experts and political observers, who say it might signal that he is reserving cash for a presidential run.
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Questions Abound As Trump Raises And Hoards Huge Sums Of 2024 Cash
Without any declared candidacy, and with little spent on Republican candidates, the purpose of Trumps war chest remains opaque
Donald Trumps ferocious money-raising machine, powered in equal measure by grassroots giving and large individual and corporate donations, has never really stopped turning and it is currently raising huge sums of cash.
As of this month, Trump has $108,046,100 saved in his Save America political fund, more than the Republican and Democratic national committees combined, and 12 times as much as the fund Pac for the Future for the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
And all of that has been raised while Trumps own ambitions remain unclear. Though his grip on the Republican party remains tight and he has waged an endorsement war against his opponents the big question over whether Trump will run again for the White House remains unanswered.
Without any declared candidacy, his war chests purpose and thus also that of its master, is unclear and deliberately so.
Trump cannot easily spend the money on himself should he decide to run in 2024. Save America is registered as a leadership pac, or political action committee, not a campaign tool for himself. Yet Trump is not yet spending much, according to its leadership purpose of supporting Republican candidates going into this years hotly contested midterm elections.
How Donald J Trump Still Looms
- Grip on G.O.P.: Mr. Trump remains the most powerful figure in the Republican Party. However, there are signs his control is loosening.
- A Modern-Day Party Boss: Hoarding cash, doling out favors and seeking to crush rivals, Mr. Trump is behaving like the head of a 19th-century political machine.
- Selling Trump: Mr. Trump has continued to trade on his political fame in pursuit of profit, while entrepreneurial conservatives are cashing in on MAGA merchandise.
- Just the Beginning: For many Trump supporters who marched on Jan. 6, the day was not a disgraced insurrection but the start of a movement.
That sort of PAC has no meaningful restrictions on how it could spend its money, said Adav Noti, the senior director of trial litigation at the Campaign Legal Center.
People close to the former president say there has been no discussion about Mr. Trump giving himself a salary. But historically, his political committees have paid to use his properties, among other things, indirectly enriching him.
Republican fund-raising groups have pushed back against the former president. In a letter on Monday responding to the cease-and-desist request by Mr. Trumps committee, Justin Riemer, the chief counsel for the R.N.C., stated, The R.N.C., of course, has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of those common goals.
The Republican clash could resonate particularly in the House.
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Solicitation Of Donations Without A License
Under New York State law, a not-for-profit foundation must register as a “7A Charitable Organization” if it plans to solicit outside donations over $25,000 in any year. The Trump Foundation was initially registered as a private foundation set up solely to receive his own personal donations. As long as it was private and did not solicit outside funds, it did not have to file annual audited reports with the New York State Charities Bureau. However, records show that Trump began soliciting donations at least as early as 2004 and possibly as early as 1989.
Trump Taking Personal Credit For Donations Made Using Foundation Money
Both The Washington Post and Fox News reported that Trump repeatedly claimed in public, beginning in 2015, to have made over “$102 million” in charitable donations “in the past five years”. The Trump Organization provided journalists with a 93-page list of the donations. None of the cash donations were confirmed to come from Trump himself many were actually grants from the Trump Foundation.
For example, Trump took personal credit and was honored for a Trump Foundation grant to the Palm Beach Police Foundation that was actually from an outside source . He had pledged the money personally, and then the Trump Foundation solicited the $150,000 earmarked for the police foundation from an unrelated philanthropic organization, the Charles Evans Foundation. The Trump Foundation then paid the Palm Beach charity. The police then honored Trump personally with its annual Palm Tree Award at Trump’s hotel at its annual fundraiser.The Washington Post wrote that “Trump had effectively turned the Evans Foundation’s gifts into his gifts, without adding any money of his own.”
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has honored Trump variously as “Grand Benefactor” and “Grand Honorary Chair” at its annual fundraisers held at Trump’s estate. Trump may have also earned more money on the event fees it received from the institute than the Trump Foundation paid to the institute in grants. Trump has directed at least $300,000 of grants of the Trump Foundation money to Dana-Farber since 2010.
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Claim: Obama Donated None Of His Salary Trump Donates All His Salary Michelle Had Staff Of 23 Melania Has Staff Of 4
Comparisons between the current president and first lady and Barack and Michelle Obama have not ceased since the 2016 election. A viral meme, made by conservative group Turning Point USA and posted by the Facebook page Donald Trump Fan Club, claims the Obamas threw around taxpayer dollars, in the form of salary and payroll, more freely than the Trumps.
The post, which depicts the couples, alleges that Barack Obama donated none of his salary, while Donald Trump donates all of his, and Melania Trump reportedly has a staff of four, but Michelle Obama had a staff of 23.
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Donald Trump has made a similar claim before, arguing that hes the first president to give away his salary.
I give away my presidential salary, Trump told reporters at a gathering of his Cabinet, according to POLITICO. They say no other president has done it. I’m surprised, to be honest with you. They say George Washington may have been the only other president to do that. See whether or not Obama gave up his salary. See whether or not all of the other of your favorites, your other favorites gave up their salary. The answer is no.
The Facebook page Donald Trump Fan Club did not respond to USA TODAYs request for comment and clarification.
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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