Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had originally told The Washington Post that the event had raised about $4.5 million — less than the $6 million originally announced by Trump — because some who’d pledged contributions had backed out. Lewandowski also said all the money had been given out.
Trump contradicted those comments when he later told the Post that the total raised was higher and that his team had been busy vetting the groups.
Trump had claimed during the fundraiser that he’d raised $6 million through a combination of pledges from wealthy friends, the public and $1 million from himself after a splashy telethon-style fundraiser he held in Iowa in January in place of the Fox debate.
But his campaign refused for months to disclose which charities had received the money, leading some news organizations and critics to question whether the money raised was less than he had said.
“It was very unfair that the press treated us so badly,” Trump complained.
About a dozen local New York veterans protested outside Trump Tower, holding signs such as “Vets vs. Hate.”
“Veterans are a very diverse group of people. How dare he suggest we endorse his hateful rhetoric?” said Claude Copeland, 34, who said he had served in Iraq for the Army in 2003.
Said Perry O’Brien, also 34, who served in Afghanistan as a specialist in the Army: “Vets are not for sale. He is demeaning to POWs, Muslims, Mexicans and women who, unlike, Trump, actually sacrificed for their country.”
But one of the veterans who joined Trump for his news conference, Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state representative, came outside to heckle the anti-Trump vets, calling them “political pawns.”