Getty President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in Corpus Christi.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania are donating $1 million of their “personal money” to the Hurricane Harvey flood relief fund, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.
The revelation came during an afternoon White House press briefing. Sanders was questioned on what the president planned to do in regard to raising additional funds for relief. She said that she spoke with Trump earlier in the day, and he vowed to contribute toward the fund.
“I’m happy to tell you he would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people we’ve seen across this country do, and he’s pledging $1 million of personal money to the fund,” Sanders said. “He’ll pledge proudly $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana.”
Sanders then asked the room full of reporters for “suggestions” on the best place for Trump to donate the $1 million to.
Watch the video of Sanders saying the Trumps will donate to Harvey relief below:
Press Secretary says President Trump pledges a $1 million donation to Harvey relief effort. t.co/1nSIEQ2WzV
Sanders was questioned further on where exactly Trump’s “personal” donation would come from, whether it would be from the Trump Foundation or the Trump Organization. She said she wasn’t exactly aware of the source.
“I know that the president said he was personally going to give,” Sanders said. “I don’t know the legal part exactly of that, but he said his personal money, so I’d assume it’s coming directly from him.”
Harvey has brought catastrophic flooding to the Houston area and dumped well over 50 inches of rainfall, a United States record, since it made landfall Friday. At least 38 people have died as a direct result of the massive storm thus far, and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced from their homes and forced to temporary shelters.
As of Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said it’s rescued over 6,000 people and over 1,000 pets from the catastrophic floodwaters and brought them to safety.
On Tuesday, Trump and Melania landed in Corpus Christi, Texas to view the damage caused by the storm and to also get briefed on the latest update by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
“We won’t say congratulations, we won’t want to do that,” Trump said to Abbott during a press event. “We’ll congratulate each other when it’s all finished.”
Abbott didn’t hold back in singing the praises of Trump and the federal government for their assistance in the time of need.
“What I’ve learned is we can count on the president of the United States and his staff for helping Texas,” Abbott said. “Texas has been tested, but our response to this challenge has been made much more effective because of the very effective way the president and his staff have responded to this challenge.”
The Trumps plan to visit the Houston area again Saturday, the White House says.