Cruz Super PAC to Give $1.5 Million to Veterans Charity If Trump Agrees to Debate

Two Ted Cruz super PACs, Keep The Promise I and Keep The Promise II, have offered a large donation to America’s veterans – with a catch.

The benefactors of Keep the Promise I, the Mercer family, and Keep the Promise II, the Neugebauer family, released a statement Wednesday, saying,

Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump both respect the veterans and hold them in the highest regard but Senator Cruz respects the process and we are calling on Mr. Trump to do the same and debates are the purest form of democracy. Iowans – and Americans – deserve to hear from the frontrunners in this ‘two-man race’ one last time.  Not only would this be a heck of a debate, but it would also be a terrific opportunity to generate millions of dollars for the veterans.

According to Breitbart, “the debate must be between just Trump and Cruz, must take place on or before Sunday Jan. 31 in Iowa, must be one-hour long, and the candidates can pick a jointly-agreed-to moderator themselves.” The two organizations followed with an additional press release that said:

In response to Senator Ted Cruz’s challenge of a one-on-one debate, the principal donors of the Keep the Promise I and II super PACs are offering presidential candidate Donald Trump a truly fantastic deal, pledging to donate $1.5 million to charities committed to helping veterans if Mr. Trump agrees to debate Senator Cruz in Iowa. This money is in addition to the millions of proceeds available to the veterans as a share of the revenues that this debate could secure from a host network.

After the duel was issued, Cruz announced he has a venue, time, and place already reserved. “We have a venue, we have a time — all we’re missing is a candidate,” Cruz stated. A twist in this story occurs with the fact that the veteran’s group Trump announced he would be raising money for in lieu of attending the Thursday debate has openly rejected any donations Trump would have offered.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder Paul Rieckhoff tweeted Wednesday that he would decline any contributions that came from the event, which Trump has proposed in place of his attending Fox News’ debate this week.

“If offered, IAVA will decline donations from Trump’s event. We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts,” he said.

Two other veterans’ groups also distanced themselves from Trump’s announcement.

The Wounded Warrior Project said it was not aware of the candidate conducting any fundraising efforts on its behalf.

Meanwhile, VoteVets.org, which calls itself the nation’s largest progressive veterans group, issued a statement titled: “Don’t hide from Megyn Kelly behind us.”

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