Business Math: Donald Trump + Fundraiser For Veterans = Missing Millions

Two Donald Trump henchmen went on TV — and the Donald himself threw an Instagram temper tantrum — Tuesday morning to set the record straight on exactly how much money Trump actually raised for veterans at a fundraiser in January.

Their answers differed by millions.

Their estimates ranged from as low as $4 million to as high as $6 million. Perhaps it was all a smokescreen, designed to distract from the real question in troop-fundraiser-gate: Where did all those millions of dollars raised to help veterans actually go?

The Washington Post, through interviews with every charity listed by Trump, could account for only "$3.1 million in donations." CBS News, using a similar method, could find just over $2 million, as of April 28.

Trump's campaign did not immediately return a Patch request for comment on the missing $3 million (or possibly $4 million).

This mess all goes back to Trump's fundraiser that he held instead of participating in a Fox News debate back in January.

It's been a source of controversy for the presumptive Republican nominee. He and his campaign have been anything but forthcoming about how much money was really raised that night and where the money has gone since. And it hasn't been a good look for the candidate running on a populist platform that includes helping veterans and strengthening the country's military.

First, here's a refresher of different claims made over the last four months about the money raised that night:

• The night of the fundraiser, January 28, Trump boldly proclaimed, "We just cracked $6 million, right? Six million."
• He stuck with that $6 million figure on the campaign trail, telling an Iowa rally a few days later, "We raised, in one hour, $6 million. Is that good?”
• In early March, after contacting every Trump charity, the Washington Post reported he had given "roughly $3 million" away. Hardly insignificant money but only half of what he's been boasting that he raised.
• In the Post article Saturday, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski admitted that the event actually only raised about $4.5 million — nine individual donations totaling $3.78 million plus $670,000 through internet donations. Lewandowski blamed the shortfall on big-money donors backing out of previously pledged gifts.

OK, $4.5 million is still an impressive amount of money for someone to raise for a worthy cause, right? If that is indeed how much money was raised, that would still represent a dose of goodwill for a candidate who desperately needs one.

Nope, Trump's campaign was back on the offensive Tuesday morning.

Now, it doesn't take a math genius to figure out that adding a million bucks would get the campaign closer to its $6 million figure that it's been bragging about. But math is apparently not a strong suit for Trump and his cronies.

Even giving them a $1 million cushion, they still couldn't agree on how much money they got from the fundraiser. Lewandowski said "somewhere between $5.5 and $6 million," Cohen tossed out "$4 or $5 million," and Trump called it "almost $6 million."

We appear to have a case of the left hand not talking to the right hand — and neither talking to the brain.

Of course, this could all be solved through a simple Trump campaign disclosure of donations received that night and a list of donations sent out (or that plan to be sent out) to the various veterans groups.

But that would require transparency and accountability. The man who may well be our next president apparently has neither.