White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday said that President Trump will donate his salary at the end of the year and has asked the press to weigh in on where the donations should go.
“The president’s intention right now is to donate his salary at end of the year, and he has kindly asked you all determine where that goes,” Spicer said at Monday’s briefing.
“The way that we can avoid scrutiny is to let the press corps determine where it should go,” he continued, provoking laughter from reporters attending the briefing.
{mosads}During the campaign, Trump vowed that he wouldn’t take a salary if elected president, and he repeated that promise after his victory in November.
The question at Monday’s briefing comes as stories emerge that the White House declined to say if Trump has donated any of his $400,000 annual salary.
“In all seriousness, I think his view is, he made a pledge to the American people, he wants to donate it to charity, and he would love your help to determine where it should go,” Spicer said.
Spicer’s remarks inspired journalists on Twitter to propose where Trump’s salary should go, with suggestions including journalism nonprofits like ProPublica, the scholarships funded by the White House Correspondents’ Association or the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Trump has frequently come under fire for overstating his giving. During the campaign, a Washington Post analysis found that Trump often exaggerated his charitable contributions in public.