GoFundMe raises nearly $5 million for Trump’s border wall

by Emily Birnbaum - 12/19/18 7:49 PM ET

A GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $5 million for President Trump’s proposed border wall as of midday Thursday.

The founder of the fundraising effort, Brian Kolfage, wrote on the page that he believes “it’s up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling.”

{mosads}Kolfage, who is a triple amputee and Purple Heart recipient, according to the page, said he launched the GoFundMe shortly after a New York Post opinions article last week posed the question, “Why hasn’t someone made a GoFundMe for Trump’s wall?”

As of Thursday, the campaign had received donations from 75,803 people in three days to a total of $4,645,874. The campaign first broke $1 million on Wednesday night.

“If the 63 million people who voted for Trump each pledge $80, we can build the wall,” the page reads. “That equates to roughly 5Billion Dollars, even if we get half, that’s half the wall. We can do this.”

Kolfage wrote that he had contacted the Trump administration “to secure a point of contact where all funds will go upon completion,” adding, “We have many very high level contacts already helping.”

The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment and questions about whether Kolfage has been in touch with Trump administration officials.

The fundraiser’s total continued to climb on Wednesday after the White House dropped its demand that $5 billion for Trump’s border wall be included in a government funding bill.

The White House this week began discussing other funding options.

On Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated he will move a stopgap measure funding the government until Feb. 8.

“As a veteran who has given so much, 3 limbs, I feel deeply invested to this nation to ensure future generations have everything we have today,” Kolfage wrote. He added that he is “working with a law firm on a legal document that will bind the government to using the funds for the border wall itself, nothing else.”

More than a third of Republicans surveyed in a new poll said they would contribute their own money to privately fund Trump’s border wall, according to a poll released Tuesday by conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports.

This post was updated Thursday at 12:05 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Mitch McConnell