February 22, 2025

Idavox

The Media Outlet of One People's Project

Of COURSE Trump Donated to Questionable Organizations!

If it wasn’t for the fact that he has gotten this far, the complete irresponsibility would be funny as hell!

During presidential candidateโ€™s Donald Trumpโ€™s contentious press conferenceย  that he held Tuesday to address the recent controversy that there was not an account for the $6 million he claimed to raise for military veterans during a January event, Trump announced a list of charities he said he donated to, and despite him repeatedly saying that they have been vetted, at least two have had been accused of questionable practices in the past.

According to the list of charities Trump released, $75,000 was given to the Freedom Alliance, an organization founded in 1990 by Col. North which has as its primary function to aid wounded combat veterans. North was convicted of altering and destroying National Security Council documents, aiding and abetting the obstruction of a November 1986 congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra affair, where weapons were sold to Iran to help fund rebels fighting Nicaraguaโ€™s Socialist government. He was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. In 2003, Sean Hannity began promoting a tour of Freedom Concerts which were held annually and raised over $10 million for the Freedom Alliance.

In 2006, One Peopleโ€™s Project learned that Freedom Alliance spent at least 55% of its budget on its stated services, namely the soldiers that were to benefit from their charity. This was well below the 65% the Better Business Bureau says a legitimate charity should spend and the 75% charities usually spend. In 2010 right-wing blogger Debbie Schlussel picked up the story and learned through tax records that soldiers saw less than 20%, 7% and 4% in some of those years, of the money that went to Freedom Alliance, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and to pay Hannityโ€™s huge expenses during the concerts.

Charity Navigator, a charity watchdog organization has lowered Freedom Allianceโ€™s rating from four stars โ€“ itโ€™s highest rating – to two in the wake of the controversy. Although it returned to four stars the following year, Freedom Allianceโ€™s current rating is once again two stars, fluctuating between three and two stars since 2012.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post later noted however that among those charities included the Foundation for American Veterans which received $75,000 from Trump despite generating an โ€œalertโ€ from the Better Business Bureau and criticisms noting that like Freedom Alliance, it spent only a fraction of its donations on veterans and the rest on โ€œoverheadโ€ and fundraising. The group also is connected to a Michigan telemarketing firm that’s been accused of deceptive statements by the Minnesota attorney general, who filed suit with the group last week.

During the press conference, Trump repeatedly said that those he gave money to were being scrutinized before they received donations, which was the reason why those donations were delayed. โ€œYou have to go through a process, he said. โ€œWhen you send checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars to peopleย andย to companiesย andย to groups that youโ€™ve never heard of, charitable organizations, you have to vet it. You send people out, you do a lot of work.โ€

On his Tuesday radio show, Sean Hannity broke a long-standing silence of his regarding the Freedom Alliance controversy and the role he played with the Freedom Concerts, which he has not held in several years. Echoing Trumpโ€™s sentiment that he was being attacked for trying to do something good without any fanfare โ€“ despite both Trumpโ€™s fundraising event and Hannityโ€™s Freedom Concerts being heavily promoted, Hannity said he gave an account of the money that was received and none of it, despite assertions to the contrary, went to pay for his expenses. โ€œI gave over a million dollars to military charities out of my pocket, he said. โ€œFor the Freedom Concerts, I spent almost that much money in terms of planes and hotels and all sorts of other expenses involved with it. I had to have people send out a press release that I did it because I was being accused of pocketing money. I paid for every meal. I paid for every plane. I paid for every hotel. I paid for everything.โ€

Coincidentally, just before this statement, Hannity suggested a hypothetical where if Trump did not vet these organizations what the media would say if a organization was revealed to have questionable financial practices. โ€œYou canโ€™t win for losing,โ€ he said.


25 Years of Hate Having Consequences !

2025 is a milestone year and we want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of our supporters who have been in the trenches with us for the past 25 years. A lot of groups and people we have dealt with since we started are long gone: Richard Barrett, Matt Hale, the Minutemen and others! But we are still here fighting the good fight, contending with the new generation's version of hate politics. There are trying times ahead, but we believe our reality would be even worse if we did not come together to do this work. If you value the research and reporting that we have done at One Peopleโ€™s Project and Idavox- and you want to see it continue- we hope you will consider helping to keep our mission fired up.

One People's Project is a 501 (c)(3) organization. All donations are tax-deductible. EIN: 47-2026442


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