Republican president-elect Donald Trump has said he will not accept a salary for being president.
Questions have swirled concerning what’ll happen to Trump’s income in the wake of his winning the 2016 US presidential election, CBS News reported on Friday.
Trump said at a September 17, 2015, event in Rochester, New Hampshire: ‘The first thing I’m going to do is tell you that if I’m elected president, I’m accepting no salary, okay? That’s not a big deal for me.’
Someone on Twitter asked Trump in a Q & A session, a video of which was posted on Trump’s Twitter account on September 21, 2015: ‘@realDonaldTrump, will you forgo the presidential salary if elected?’
Trump answered: ‘As far as the salary is concerned — I won’t take even one dollar. I am totally giving up my salary if I become president.
In the same video, Trump said he was ‘totally self-funding’ his campaign and said that he ‘won’t take money other than the small stuff’.
However, he later started fundraising for both himself and the Republican National Committee, Business Insider pointed out.
As of Friday, Forbes estimates that Trump’s net worth is $3.7billion.
Herbert Hoover, who made millions of dollars in mining before becoming president in 1929, and John F. Kennedy, who came from a wealthy family and became president in 1961, both donated their presidential salaries to charity.
The US Code says on its website: ‘The President shall receive in full for his services during the term for which he shall have been elected compensation in the aggregate amount of $400,000 a year, to be paid monthly, and in addition an expense allowance of $50,000 to assist in defraying expenses relating to or resulting from the discharge of his official duties.’
