George W Bush charged a charity $100,000 to guarantee his presence at fundraiser for military veterans wounded in the Iraq war
- The former president offered to charge $100,000 ‘rather than $250,000’
- Was also flown by private jet to the 2012 event, the charity footed the bill
- It came a year after his wife Laura received $50,000 from Helping A Hero
- The Texas-based charity claims his attendance raised an extra $1m
- But veterans on the board slammed the news as a ‘slap in the face’
George W Bush charged a charity $100,000 to guarantee his attendance at a fundraiser for military veterans wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, it has been reported.
The former president was also flown from Dallas to Houston by private jet and provided accommodation, which added $70,000 to Helping A Hero’s bill, the charity told ABC News.
It transpires the extortionate fee was in fact a reduced rate, bartered down from $250,000.
And a year earlier, his wife former First Lady Laura Bush received $50,000 from the charity to make an appearance.
The revelation has sparked outrage among many of the board members who lost limbs fighting the War On Terror which Bush declared in 2003. ‘You sent me to war, I was doing what you told me to do, gladly for you and our country and I have no regrets. But it’s kind of a slap in the face,’ raged former Marine Eddie Wright on ABC News. Wright lost both hands in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 after being hit by a rocket. ‘For him to be paid to raise money for veterans that were wounded in combat under his orders, I don’t think that’s right,’ Wright added.