President Donald Trump has donated the fourth-quarter total of his 2019 salary to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In a statement posted to Twitter, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham announced that the president would be donating his 2019 Q4 salary to the department in a bid “to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus.”
President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office. Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/R6KUQmBRl1
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) March 3, 2020
Trump, who gave away his third-quarter remuneration to the fight against the ongoing opioid crisis, has been making good on his campaign promise to give away all his presidential paychecks to good causes. Past beneficiaries include the Department of Homeland Security to assist in building the wall on the southern US-Mexico border and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
As the wealthiest president in history, Trump can certainly afford the giveaways. In 2018, he declared a staggering $434 million in private income.
As cases of the COVID-19 virus continue to surge across the United States, today the US Surgeon Dr Jerome Adams issued a stark warning to the American people. “I want America to understand — this week, it’s going to get bad,” he told NBC News, urging citizens to follow the stringent social distancing guidelines.
“We really, really need everyone to stay at home,” Adams added. “I think that there are a lot of people who are doing the right things, but I think that unfortunately we’re finding out a lot of people think this can’t happen to them.”
“Everyone needs to act as if they have the virus right now. So, test or no test. We need you to understand you could be spreading it to someone else. Or you could be getting it from someone else… stay at home.”
Addressing the nationwide shortage of specialist respiratory equipment, Adams insisted that the country was not going to be able to “ventilator our way out of this problem,” and that the focus should remain on enacting preventative measures to stem the rate of infection.
“The way you stop the spread of an infectious disease like this is with mitigation measures and preventing people from getting it in the first place,” he said.
The US now has over 35,000 confirmed cases of the illness, with over 450 deaths.
With cities in quarantine and businesses shuttering, the United States Senate is busy hammering out a stimulus package – expected to total well over a trillion dollars – politicians hope will save the economy from plunging into a brutal recession.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Tasos Katopodis/Stringer
Will Maule is a British journalist who has spent the past several years working as a digital news editor. Since earning a degree in international relations and politics, Will has developed a particular interest in covering ethical issues, human rights and global religious persecution. Will’s work has been featured in various outlets including The Spectator, Faithwire, CBN News, Spiked, The Federalist and Christian Headlines. Follow him on Twitter at @WillAMaule.
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