CNN reported Tuesday that it is not clear where more than $3 million that Donald Trump raised for veterans wound up.
Donald Trump skipped a televised debate before the Iowa Caucus to hold a campaign rally. The rally included a fundraiser that was supposedly for veterans. The fundraiser netted $6 million, according to Trump.
"Remember back when Fox had the debate and he skipped it because he said he would raise money for vets? Raised over $6 million, vowed to donate it to various groups. There was questions then and there are questions now about where that money went," CNN host Chris Cuomo said.
CNN reporter Drew Griffin interviewed Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, and asked about how the money was distributed.
"A lot of promises from the Trump campaign about where this money went but not a lot of answers and it just shouldn't be that hard. Number one, in the big scheme of things, it is not that much money and the accounting is not that difficult to do," Griffin said. "Independently, we've tried to go around the Trump campaign and asked these veterans groups what kind of money they got or were promised. Very few of them, though, Chris have been willing to talk to us at all, let alone confirm what they got."
Only half of the money, or $2.9 million, has been distributed, according to the Trump campaign.
"So here is what we have in terms of accounting for the $6 million, all according to the Trump campaign as of their last accounting. $2.9 million has been distributed, according to Trump's campaign, to 27 different veterans groups, a million of those dollars were donated personally by Donald Trump himself but that leaves $3.1 million, or roughly half of the money, yet to be accounted for. Despite those promises, we still don't have an accounting," Griffin said.
Cuomo asked Griffin if Trump should get the benefit of the doubt.
"What could unaccounted for mean? Could it mean that people pledged, and then didn't put up? Does it mean money was distributed, they're just not sure where?" Cuomo asked. "Is there any good explanation?"
"I don't see a good explanation. We should say that money has been distributed and veterans groups that would talk to us were very appreciative of the money that was donated to them," Griffin said. "But we've got $6 million, half of it accounted for, half of it not. We've been asking for four months now from this campaign where did it go.
"We asked this of charities all across the nation. As you know, Chris, it's not hard to do. So we're just asking again. Trump campaign, please tell us where the money is, where it's going."