Trump donates first-quarter salary to National Park Service

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump, who made a fortune in real estate before running for political office, has decided to donate his first-quarter salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service, the White House announced on Monday.

During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would donate his $400,000 annual salary if he were elected.

'That's no big deal for me,” he told a town-hall style meeting in September 2015.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose agency oversees the 100-year-old protector of 417 national parks, monuments and other sites, said he was 'thrilled” at Trump's decision.

'We are going to dedicate and put it against the infrastructure on our nation's battlefields,” Zinke said, appearing alongside White House spokesman Sean Spicer at a daily briefing. 'We are about $229 million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone,” Zinke said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)