President Trump on Friday said he will donate $100,000 of his salary to help repair national monuments damaged during anti-police brutality protests.

The funds —  a quarter of the presidents $400,000 annual pay — will go toward the National Park Service for the restorations, according to Trump. “I promised YOU I would not take a dime of salary as your President. I donate the entire $400,000!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “It is my honor to give $100,000 to @NatlParkService to help repair and restore our GREAT National Monuments. So important to our American History! Thank You!!”

For the last two quarters, the president, who is paid $400,000 annually, donated his salary to coronavirus relief.

Earlier this month Trump signed a landmark national parks bill, the Great American Outdoors Act. The bipartisan bill will pay for repairs to the National Park System, permanently finance the Land and Water Conservation Fund and create thousands of jobs, according to Fox News. The bill is the biggest for parks since President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration in the early 1900s, Trump said as he signed it.

The National Park Service accounts for 84 million acres of land at 400 different sites, but as of 2019, they were due for $11.9 billion in deferred maintenance and repairs. The bill will direct up to $6.65 billion to priority fixes and up to $3 billion for agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Trump is required to be paid the annual $400,000 a year to be the president, but he has pledged to donate his quarterly salary while in office to worthy government causes.

Statues across the country were damaged or defaced during the civil unrest over the killing of George Floyd — with protesters targeting monuments to slaveholders or figures with ties to slavery.

Officials in cities that had endured weeks and months of protests have estimated tens of millions of dollars in damage to property, buildings and public works including statues. Portland businesses estimated roughly $2.3 million in damage in early July, the Oregonian reported. Denver businesses in late June reported similar damages of  around $2 million, according to the Denver Post.

 

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