Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday morning released an Instagram video further touting the $6 million he (and he alone) says he raised for veterans at a January fundraiser.
In addition to the alleged $6 million in donations, Trump said he gave $1 million out-of-pocket.
Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, admitted to the Washington Post over the weekend that the figure was closer to $4.5 million because, "There were some individuals who [Trump had] spoken to, who were going to write large checks, [who] for whatever reason . . . didn’t do it."
The Post's independent investigation found only $3.1 million through interviews with charities.
Trump's personal million-dollar donation, however, remains unaccounted for. In the same report, 22 of veterans charities told the Post that they hadn't received any personal donations from Trump.
"I had no obligation to do anything or to do so," Trump said in the Instagram video. "And I get nothing but bad press from the dishonest media."
Trump added that the media ought to investigate the Clinton Foundation if "you want to see dishonesty."
Well, The Wall Street Journal did. And despite a vaguely interesting headline, the exposé condenses to, as my colleague Sophia Tesfaye put it, "At the behest of Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative arranged for millions in private and federal dollars to benefit a for-profit clean energy company partially owned by close friends of the Clintons’."
MediaMatters made it sound the least glamorous, explaining, "CGI did not give any money to the company; the foundation simply announced at its annual convention a $2 million private investment from businesswoman Kim Samuel."
Trump's characteristically inflated video is part of an escalating back-and-forth between his and Hillary Clinton's respective campaigns ahead of the general election.
On Monday, Trump released a Clinton attack ad on his Instagram featuring clips of audio testimony from three women accusing former-President Bill Clinton of sexual assault. The video ends with Hillary's signature cackle.
Is Hillary really protecting women? A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on
Earlier Tuesday, Clinton released an attack ad accusing Trump "rooting for" and profiteering from the collapse of the housing market in 2007.
The 44-second ad closes with the catchy new warning, "If Donald wins, you lose."
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