President Donald Trump boasted Wednesday that he was the only president to donate his salary while in office — a claim CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale quickly knocked down.
“I’m the only president,” Trump said, before acknowledging that George Washington “maybe” did the same. He also complained that he didn’t “get credit” for donating his salary during his first term, which he said he has continued doing since returning to the White House.
“It’s not true that no other president donated the official salary,” Dale wrote in response to Trump’s remarks. “JFK and Hoover did.”
Dale also corrected Trump’s claim that presidents are paid $550,000 annually.
“It’s $400,000 in salary these days, though expense/travel allocations can boost the total up to $550,000,” he wrote in an X post.
Trump also claimed he “never got a story” about donating his salary during his first term. But Dale poked holes in that assertion too.
“It’s not true that Trump never got a story about his first-term donations,” according to the CNN correspondent. “They were regularly covered when he announced them.”
Dale added Wednesday that Trump has not made public any evidence that he has donated his full salary during his second term, though Trump announced that his first 2025 paycheck went to the White House Historical Association.
“His team wouldn’t provide any more info when I inquired,” Dale wrote.
It’s not true that no other president donated the official salary; JFK and Hoover did. (It’s $400,000 in salary these days, though expense/travel allocations can boost the total up to $550,000.) It’s not true that Trump never got a story about his first-term donations; they were… https://t.co/9t3s09xzgm
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 30, 2026