President Donald Trump is donating $100,000 of his salary to help repair monuments damaged during protests and riots since late May.
Unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day has included vandalism and looting. Demonstrations have targeted monuments, damaging some, and toppling others.
Trump, a Republican, announced Friday he would pay a quarter of his annual salary to the National Park Service, to be used for restorations.
Trump has donated all of his earnings since becoming president, typically directing the money to different agencies each quarter.
“I promised YOU I would not take a dime of salary as your President,” the president said in a social media statement.
Trump said he was honored to give the money to the service to help repair and restore “our GREAT National Monuments,” adding: “So important to our American History!”
Trump last sent money from his salary to the service in 2017.
“The Park Service has cared for our parks since 1916, and the President is personally proud to contribute the first quarter of his salary to the important mission of the Park Service, which is preserving our country’s national security,” then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters, announcing that donation.
The money was going to be used to help combat deferred maintenance on battlefields.
Other agencies that have received money from the president include the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
