The Trump campaign announced Friday that it is distributing $6.6 million donated by others to a GoFundMe account set up for victims of the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. .
“We can confirm that the majority of distribution has occurred or is imminent,” Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said in a text message to The New York Times on Friday.
A GoFundMe account organized by the Trump campaign’s national finance director has received 70,300 donations. This far surpassed the original goal of $1 million. Although the Trump campaign did not directly receive the donations, it identified the recipients and oversaw the distribution of funds from the GoFundMe account.
The Trump campaign says the funds will not be used for presidential campaign activities, and GoFundMe rules do not allow it.
Two recipients of the donations told the Times that they had received a portion of the donations.
Helen Comperatore, whose husband Corey was killed in the attack, said she received the funds from her GoFundMe account earlier this week. Comperatore declined to disclose the amount, but said she would like to thank all donors.
“I was truly honored to receive this award,” Comperatore said in a telephone interview. “I’m going to do something very kind and wonderful with the money in honor of my husband. I don’t know what yet.”
Mitchell Derulo, a Trump supporter who owns Priority Crane Rentals in Prospect, Pennsylvania, also received funds.
Mr. Derulo attended the July 13 rally and was not physically injured. In return, they were compensated for the loss of income. He donated two large cranes to hoist the American flag over Trump’s head during the rally. After the shooting, Derulo was unable to lend the crane to anyone for a week because it was secured with police tape.
Mr. Derulo was featured in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article after the rally, telling the newspaper he had lost about $50,000 in income and praising Mr. Trump as a candidate. Derulo said the Trump campaign then contacted him and told him he needed help and wanted to make sure he was compensated.
Derulo said the campaign ultimately paid out $48,000 from GoFundMe donations. “It was quite a few. He took care of me, he really did,” he said.
The attack injured Trump and two other men in the crowd. Lawyers for the two men did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
In opening the GoFundMe account, the Trump campaign said it would support “supporters and their families injured or killed in today’s brutal and horrifying assassination attempt.”
Hughes, the Trump campaign spokesman, declined to answer questions about why the campaign compensated Derulo, given that his losses were financial, not physical. Hughes also declined to say whether Trump himself contributed to the fundraiser. The GoFundMe page did not list the former president’s name among its top donors.
Ms. Comperatore said she would be present when Mr. Trump returns to Butler for another rally on Saturday.
Derulo said the crane was donated again for use at the second rally. But he said he wouldn’t go there. It was his first time and he was too scared.
“They gave me a good seat,” Derulo said. “But I have three children at home and I have to take care of them. I will be watching this from afar.”
