Anti-Media Trump Sends $75,000 to Foundation Founded by Wounded Reporter

After reporters revealed that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump failed to send a promised $6 million to veterans' charities, the candidate issued a series of checks and held a press conference this week to highlight his donations and lambaste the meddling media.

At the press conference Trump announced that he had raised nearly $6 million for 41 groups -- including $75,000 for the Bob Woodruff Foundation, a New York-based charity founded by and named for an ABC News reporter nearly killed covering the war in Iraq. The money comes from Trump's personal foundation. 

Trump has an aversion to the press: He wants to change libel laws to make it easier for politicians to sue reporters, he sets aside a moment at his rallies for his supporters to turn around and boo the assembled media, and he refuses to issue press credentials to unfriendly outlets who want to cover his campaign events. 

"I think the political press is among the most dishonest people that I have ever met, I have to tell you. I see the stories, and I see the way they're couched," Trump said on Tuesday. 

Thomas Burr, president of the National Press Club, quickly released a statement saying reporters should not be told to be "ashamed of themselves" because they investigated his fundraising for military veterans. "Donald Trump misunderstands — or, more likely, simply opposes — the role a free press plays in a democratic society," Burr said.

But despite anti-media sentiments from Trump, the Bob Woodruff Foundation is keeping its $75,000.

"We were pretty excited," said Lee Woodruff, Bob's wife and a co-founder of the group. The donation is a significant amount of money for the foundation. 

"When he stands up there and excoriates the press — I’m laughing," she said. "I say, 'Donald, if this is part of your show, and this is how you get attention, we’re going to use the attention then. We’re going to use this door you just opened up to get attention for what we’re doing, too.'"

Woodruff sees Trump's media mockery as more showmanship than bona fide threat against the job that reporters like her husband do. Besides, she said, she doesn’t review each donor's politics. And that’s why the foundation is keeping the money, and using it to help returning veterans with employment, mental health and other services.

"If he’s using me to burnish his halo by helping veterans, then I'm using him by getting the air time he’s created to talk about the issues of vets," she said. "I’m certainly not going to bite the hand that feeds me."