Eric Trump Just Claimed He Raised $25 Million By Age 30
If we thought Donald Trump leaving the White House meant fewer Trump headlines in the news, we were mistaken. While the former president has retreated to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, his children have continued to remain, if not entirely relevant, at least in the spotlight.
Curiously enough, Ivanka Trump, who was the most prominent of Trump's children during his presidency, has been the one who has disappeared in her post-White House life. She and husband Jared Kushner have pulled back in a major way to enjoy life in Florida at their $24 million mansion on Indian Creek Island, according to the New York Post. While Ivanka was the most prominent Trump alongside her dad, it seems that post-presidency, the rest of Trump's kids have stepped up to play public roles. Donald Trump Jr. has been busy with some bizarre behavior and Eric Trump has also become more vocal — and he hasn't hesitated to become embroiled in a few Twitter feuds, bringing up the ghosts of the Trump family's behavior.
Eric Trump gets accused of stealing money from charity
Eric Trump is in the middle of a Twitter feud and, as seems to always be the case with the Trumps, people are fact checking him and showing the receipts. It all started when the Palmer Report tweeted that Eric and his wife, Lara Trump, "reportedly used burner phones to communicate with January 6th organizers" when the Capitol was stormed. The Palmer Report added a link to a Rolling Stone article that had three sources claiming that one of the organizers had several burner phones and used them to speak with key Trump players, including Lara and Eric.
On November 24, Eric linked the Palmer Report and tweeted: "Well here is one outlet I can sue for defamation. This will be fun. I'm an incredibly honest, clean guy – unlike Hunter, no drugs, healthy lifestyle, not the 'burner phone' type... Tweet saved." Like all things on Twitter, people responded to Eric's tweet with a vengeance, many citing reports that Eric had funneled money from a children's cancer foundation. "Clean and honest? How many clean and honest people are banned from being on a charitable foundation board?" Twitter user Democracy Restored wrote back.
The comment referred to an earlier claim that the Eric Trump Foundation had siphoned money from donations given to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital into the Trump Organization, according to Newsweek. But Twitter wasn't done, and neither was Eric.
Eric Trump claps back on Twitter
In response to Eric Trump's tweet, another Twitter user, BrooklynDad Defiant tweeted: "'incredibly honest, clean' people don't steal money intended for children with cancer." Eric retorted directly to this Twitter user by saying, "By the age of 30, I raised 25 million dollars (at a 9.2% cumulative expense ratio) and built the most state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit & Surgery Center, dedicated to children, on earth. Don't ever attack philanthropy especially when you have probably done s*** in your life."
Eric's claim that he raised $25 million might be a major stretch. As PolitiFact quickly pointed out, Eric's foundation had raised $16.3 million, an amount he himself said in 2016. This amount was confirmed by The New York Times in 2017.
In 2016, Eric said he made a voluntary decision to stop fundraising with his organization, since there would be a conflict of interest during Donald Trump's presidency. Also in that year, Eric's foundation went through a rebranding, Newsweek reports, and was later called Curetivity. The rebranding was largely to remove Eric's name from the organization.