President Donald Trump will donate his $400,000 salary to charity at the end of 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has confirmed.
In an unexpected twist, the president wants the White House press corps to decide where it should go.
Before taking office, Donald Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that he would not claim his presidential salary.
It was confirmed that it would be donated after multiple media outlets asked if he was keeping that pledge.
Sean Spicer told a press briefing: “The President’s intention right now is to donate his salary at the end of the year, and he has kindly asked that you all determine where that goes.”
He joked that letting the media choose a beneficiary would be “a way to avoid scrutiny”.
“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’d love your help to determine where it should go,” Sean Spicer told the press.
President Trump’s salary has been fixed at $400,000 a year since 2001. Donald Trump had previously said he would take only $1 a year, because the president is required by law to receive a salary.
It is unclear which organization the press corps will choose to support.
Suggestions have included setting up a fund for journalism scholarships via the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Donald Trump is not the first president to forego a salary. Herbert Hoover, who made his fortune in mining before taking office, and John F. Kennedy, who inherited his wealth, both donated their pay to charity.
