Giuliani: Trump came to New York’s aid anonymously

by Ben Kamisar - 07/18/16 10:29 PM ET

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani lauded Donald Trump as a “man with a big heart,” pushing back against accusations that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has misrepresented his charitable giving.

“Every time New York City suffered a tragedy, Donald Trump was there to help. He’s not going to like my telling you this, but he did it anonymously,” Giuliani said Monday night at the Republican National Convention.

{mosads}”When police officers were shot, when firefighters were hurt, when people were in trouble, he came forward and he helped, and he asked not to be mentioned. Well, I’m going to break my promise to him. I am going to mention it.”

The convention crowd roared with applause as the former mayor laid into perceptions by liberals and the media.

“I am telling you this because I am sick and tired of the defamation of Donald Trump by the media and by the [Hillary] Clinton campaign,” he said.

“This is a good man and America should be sick and tired of their vicious nasty campaign. You deserve to know this about your next president.”

The riff was a digression from the mayor’s prepared remarks, and he became even more animated as he spoke to the crowd of Republican delegates.

Trump has faced numerous accusations about mischaracterizing how much he gave to charity. The Washington Post has hounded him on the issue, questioning whether he followed through on promises to give to veterans organizations and accounting for just less than $10,000 given to charity over a seven-year period after contacting a slew of organizations to which Trump had pledged donations.

Tags Donald Trump