Hospital: Trump’s son helped us raise over $16M

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., says President-elect Donald Trump’s son has helped it raise $16.3 million over the last decade.

“I am amazed by the many ways that you have personally embraced our cause for our children and families,” Richard C. Shadyac Jr., president of the hospital’s fundraising organization, wrote in a Dec. 30 letter to Eric Trump, The New York Times reported Friday.

“As you are aware, we are expanding our lifesaving work and are working to push cure rates even higher in this country and around the world, while improving the lives of survivors by developing and advancing treatments that reduce side effects,” he wrote, referencing St. Jude’s work against pediatric cancer. “We are only able to do this because of the support provided by donors and supporters like you.”

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The Times said Shadyac’s letter confirms Eric Trump’s assertion that his charitable organization has raised more than $15 million for St. Jude’s.

Tax record for the Eric Trump Foundation indicate he has only raised less than half that amount, but the Times noted that the release of tax documents for non-profit organizations are often delayed by two years.

Shadyac said some of the $16.3 million was also raised through related efforts, such as an Eric Trump Foundation-affiliated team that participates in the New York City Marathon.

Eric Trump told the Times in an email this week he would “continue to be a vocal advocate for pediatric cancer and St. Jude’s mission.”

The Trump Organization will still fundraise for St. Jude’s at its golf courses and hotels, he said, but contributions will go directly to the hospital rather than Donald Trump’s namesake company.

Eric Trump added he will step down from his foundation’s executive committee alongside his sister-in-law and a Trump Organization executive once his father is sworn in as president.

The president-elect’s son said on Dec. 21 he would no longer fundraise for his namesake foundation amid scrutiny over his family’s conflicts of interest with his father’s White House.

“As unfortunate as it is, I understand the quagmire,” Eric Trump told the Times. “I’m saddened because I dedicated a large portion of my adult life to battling childhood cancer.”

Donald Trump, meanwhile, called his son distancing himself from his charitable foundation “a ridiculous shame” due to the philanthropy he performs for children.