Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Has Donald Trump previously refused the presidential salary and when?
Executive Summary
Donald Trump did refuse to personally keep the official presidential salary during his first term (2017–2021) and has repeated that practice in his second term, donating each quarterly paycheck to federal agencies or nonprofit entities; this behavior began with his first $78,333 paycheck in 2017 and continued through documented donations and public statements in 2021 and 2025. Trump’s claim that he is the only president to do so is false: Presidents John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover also declined or redirected their presidential pay, and historical reporting confirms multiple precedents [1] [2] [3].
1. How the donations started — Trump’s 2017 pledge and first checks
Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 promising he would not take the $400,000 annual presidential salary, and he followed through during his first term by directing quarterly payments to federal programs and agencies. The earliest documented donations in 2017 included a first-quarter check redirected to the National Park Service and a subsequent quarter to the Department of Education for STEM initiatives, each approximately one-quarter of the $400,000 annual salary, roughly $78,333 to $100,000 depending on reporting; outlets tracking the practice noted regular quarterly donations over his term [4] [1]. Records and contemporaneous press releases show these donations were public and routed to government entities, not exclusively to private charities, which aligns with the claim that he declined to keep the salary for personal use.
2. Continued practice and public statements in 2025 confirming repetition
After his return to office, Trump publicly announced and media outlets reported that he again refused his salary for the second term, with his first paycheck of the new term directed to the White House Historical Association and statements indicating a pattern consistent with his first term practice [5]. Coverage in mid‑2025 documents his pledge to forgo the salary for the second term and the actual donation of the first check to a nonprofit tied to White House preservation, echoing his earlier pattern of quarterly disbursements to government agencies or nonprofits. The 2025 reporting confirms continuity: his refusal is an active, repeated policy rather than a one‑time gesture, and the donations are publicly acknowledged by both his team and recipient organizations [5].
3. Historical context — he is not the only president who donated pay
Trump’s characterization of himself as uniquely generous in refusing a presidential salary is historically inaccurate. John F. Kennedy famously declined his salary in 1961 with Congress later allowing him to donate it to charity, and Herbert Hoover also redirected compensation; these precedents are documented in historical records and contemporary reporting that contextualize Trump’s actions within a longer practice of presidents donating or redirecting salary [1] [2]. Fact-checking outlets and historians emphasize that donating the presidential salary is rare but not unprecedented, undermining any absolute claims of uniqueness and demonstrating that multiple presidents have used their pay for public or charitable purposes rather than personal income [2] [1].
4. The scale, mechanism and limits of the practice — what “refuse” actually meant
Trump’s approach involved publicly announcing he would not personally retain the salary and then issuing quarterly donations; in practice those donations were often directed to federal agencies for programs or to nonprofit organizations. Reporters and watchdogs reviewed Treasury and agency notices showing transfers consistent with one-quarter salary amounts, but watchdogs also flagged that refusing the salary does not eliminate other financial benefits tied to the presidency — the president still receives official expense and travel allowances, and business revenue and family financial interests may continue to generate income outside the salary decision [3] [4]. This distinction matters for assessing the overall financial impact of donating the wage versus the broader ethical questions about whether the presidency produced other financial gains.
5. Divergent framings and potential political messaging to watch
Supporters framed the salary refusal as a demonstration of Trump’s claimed personal sacrifice and separation from public pay, while critics highlighted precedent, the modest scale of the salary relative to Trump’s personal wealth, and the continued flow of governmental spending or private business revenue tied to his presidency. Media pieces in 2025 reiterated both the factual record of donated pay and the pushback on claims of uniqueness, noting that the donations were real but politically useful messages that require context about historical precedent and other channels of financial benefit [2] [6]. Readers should treat announcements of “refusing the salary” as verifiable but not dispositive on broader questions of conflict of interest or personal profit from holding the office [2] [3].