Mike Pence says Donald Trump has donated 'tens of millions' to charity. But has he?

On CNN on Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) seemed pretty certain about the charitable giving of his running mate, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. "Anyone who knows anything about Donald Trump and his career knows that this is a man who's given away tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes throughout the course of his business life — he's been incredibly generous," Pence told Wolf Blitzer. "There simply is no question — you can talk to charities all across the country who have benefited by the generosity of the Trump family, and I'm very, very proud of their charitable record."

Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold has spent months calling charities around the country to try to find any charitable donations from Donald Trump, and he has come up with three since 2008, one of them for less than $10,000, the $1 million he gave to veterans groups in May, and a $100,000 check he wrote to a Louisiana church to help with the cleanup from devastating floods. Fahrenthold said he was interested in Pence's claim.

Spokeswoman Hope Hicks responded, saying that "Trump has donated tens of millions of dollars to charities both through his foundation and otherwise," including "regular personal contributions to charities and causes of his choosing outside of the foundation." She did not provide any details or evidence, and Fahrenthold says The Post has found just $9 million in gifts to charity from Trump's pockets in his lifetime, $5.3 million of which went to his Donald J. Trump Foundation before he stopped giving in 2008 and started relying on other people's money for his foundation.

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Fahrenthold has also found that Trump has used his foundation in potential violation of the law, including a $250,000 donation to Florida's attorney general he had to pay a fine on, and a $12,000 Tim Tebow football helmet and $20,000 painting of himself he bought for himself with Trump Foundation money. Hicks also said on Monday that "Trump continues to be unfairly maligned for his generosity and we will continue to correct the record," though so far she has not. Fahrenthold notes that Trump could likely clear everything up if he released his tax returns.