Trump adviser says Trump Foundation data is secret because Donald Trump is 'a private individual'
Over the weekend, Fox News looked at the questions surrounding the Donald J. Trump Foundation, bringing on the reporter who has done the most digging into Trump's charitable foundation, The Washington Post's David Farenthold. In the interest of fairness, they followed that interview with a rebuttal from Trump campaign senior adviser Boris Epshteyn, who began by asserting that "David doesn't have anything right factually," adding that Farenthold has "a very sick obsession with Donald Trump." Fox News host Leland Vittert interrupted, saying that if Epshteyn answers the question about "what facts David has wrong," he'd give Epshteyn "as much time as you want."
Vittert noted that Farenthold has tried to verify that Trump has given away "millions of dollars of his own money," as Trump claims, and asked if Epshteyn has any proof that's true. Epshteyn said that CNN found three charities that did find donations from Trump, forcing Farenthold to update his report, and citing an article from "The New York Times, believe it or not," that raised doubts about the pay-to-play allegations regarding Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Vittert asked why Trump would want to hide his charitable giving, assuming he really gives away millions. "Well, because he's a private individual," Epshteyn began, and Vittert jumped in, "Boris, he's a private individual who's running for president." Epshteyn began attacking the Clinton Foundation, and then things started getting a bit comabtive.
"Well, we don't know anything about the Trump Foundation because you guys won't tell us about it," Vittert said. "We don't know what it does. You won't release donors, you won't release what you give." Epshteyn protested that it is a private foundation run by a private individual, but when he said that Trump has "given hundreds of millions of dollars to charity," Vittert asked for proof. "Come back with some documents on that, we'd love to see them," he said. "Well, actually, Leland, he's a private individual, he doesn't owe you any documents," Epshteyn said. You can watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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