As many expected, Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting on Monday thanks to his dogged fact-checking and debunking of President Trump’s charitable contribution claims.
Farhrenthold’s reporting began during last year’s Iowa caucuses, after Trump told reporters that he would raise $6 million for veterans—$1 million of which he claimed would be his own money. But Fahrenthold wasn’t satisfied with Trump’s claims. He wanted to know exactly which organizations would benefit from Trump’s philanthropic endeavors—and if the then-candidate had actually followed through with his promises.
Turns out the answer was no. It wasn’t until four months later, following continual questions by Fahrenthold, that Trump finally donated roughly $4.5 million.
Following that experience, the seasoned reporter began making lists of other charities that the Trump Foundation had supposedly donated to in the past, which turned into pages and pages of handwritten notes. These notebook images went viral soon after he began posting them on social media.
In addition, Fahrenthold made his reporting interactive, when he asked his Twitter followers to contribute any information about Trump’s charitable giving or of times when Trump had used money improperly. Hundreds of examples came in and led to more scoops. Fahrenthold thanked some of them in a statement after winning his Pulitzer.
To see the complete list of 2017 Pulitzer Prize winners click here.
—RealClearLife
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