Story:
A GoFundMe Campaign for Border Wall Raised Millions of Dollars Within Few Days.
Other Versions
A GoFundMe campaign to pay for the construction of Border Wall raised millions of dollars within few days of its launch in December 2018.
Fact Check:
A viral message online claims that a GoFundMe Campaign for Border Wall Raised Millions of Dollars within few days. Yes, the $1 billion campaign aimed to pay for the construction of ‘Border Wall’ is true.
GoFundMe Campaign for Border Wall Raised Millions of Dollars
The GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the border wall was set up by Brian Kolfage, a triple-amputee U.S. Air Force Veteran. Kolfage is 37-year-old Florida resident. He started the online crowd-funding campaign on 16th December 2018 with a title ‘We The People Will Fund The Wall‘. With a goal of $1 billion, he asked supporters to pitch in to pay for the wall in the U.S.-Mexico border. As of this writing, the viral GoFundMe page has raised over $14 million in 5 days, donated by 230,655 people.
About Donald Trump on Border Wall Construction
In 2016 US Presidential Election, Donald Trump promised to build a security wall along the Southern Border. Lately, he was in fact demanding $5 billion from Government budget for construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Reports as of this writing say the President Trump’s White House might back down on $5 billion border wall demand. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News that they have other ways to get that $5 billion and will “work with Congress” to do so. On 21st December, President Trump posted a Twitter message on border wall suggesting ‘We will get it done, one way or the other!‘.
Even President Ronald Reagan tried for 8 years to build a Border Wall, or Fence, and was unable to do so. Others also have tried. We will get it done, one way or the other!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018
Brian Kolfage’s Questionable Past
It is a fact that the GoFundMe campaign for Border Wall raised millions of dollars within few days of its launch. However, some concerns came up later about the GoFundMe page of Brian Kolfage and his questionable past.
The GoFundMe page also mentions the option to donate money through checks in the name of ‘WeFund The Wall’. That money goes to Brian Kolfage himself. Kolfage mentions they have contacted the Trump Administration to secure a point of contact where all the collected funds will go upon completion. The GoFundMe campaign does not mention any termination date and refund criterion in case it does not reach the $1 billion goal or if a donor wants refund, in case of misuse.
On 21st December 2018, NBC News website nbcnews.com reported that the viral fundraiser for Trump’s border wall has questionable past. Earlier he had a Facebook page titled ‘Right Wing News’ and some affiliate sites that frequently published conspiracy theories, including false, inflammatory and racist content. Facebook pulled down Right Wing News in October along with more than 559 pages that the company said were “using fake accounts… to drive traffic to their websites” or “were ad farms using Facebook to mislead people into thinking that they were forums for legitimate political debate.” Kolfage then created a group called Fight4FreeSpeech, which accepts donations. He also appeared on Fox News mentioning Fight4FreeSpeech as a group against “social media censorship.” Responding to why he did not mention Right Wing News or Fight4FreeSpeech on the GoFundMe page, Kolfage told NBC News he “didn’t want it to be a distraction.”
Hoax or Fact:
Fact.
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