A right-wing writer who crowdfunded $100,000 to repair the Puerto Rico home of AOC s grandmother says she declined to accept the money
“UPDATE: ‘someone’ in AOC’s abuela’s family told GoFundMe that she won’t take the money, even though AOC previously claimed that her grandma was in dire straits (and it was Trump’s fault),” Walsh tweeted Saturday morning. “@AOC still hasn’t acknowledged this effort or thanked us.”
GoFundMe tells Matt Walsh ‘family’ of AOC’s abuela won’t accept money after he raised $100,000 to repair home
AOC blamed Trump for not sending relief to repair her abuela’s Puerto Rico home after Hurricane Maria
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Conservative commentator Matt Walsh revealed on Saturday that the “family” of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s grandmother will not be accepting the money he raised to repair her home after the New York Democrat blamed former President Donald Trump for blocking aid that was supposed to be sent to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.
Walsh took to Twitter and shared an email he received from the GoFundMe Trust and Safety Team, who informed him that they had been in communications with the “beneficiary’s family,” who made it clear that “they will not be accepting the funds raised.”
“When a beneficiary doesn’t want to accept the funds that have been raised on their behalf, it is standard practice to turn off donations, then refund all donors,” GoFundMe told Walsh.
“UPDATE: ‘someone’ in AOC’s abuela’s family told GoFundMe that she won’t take the money, even though AOC previously claimed that her grandma was in dire straits (and it was Trump’s fault),” Walsh tweeted Saturday morning. “@AOC still hasn’t acknowledged this effort or thanked us.”
Walsh continued: “Tragically this charitable effort has been sabotaged by forces outside of our control. Still I’m grateful for the outpouring of support for abuela, even if AOC isn’t. But questions remain: Why didn’t AOC help her own abuela? Why was our help turned down? We are left to speculate. In the end, our campaign raised 100 thousand dollars and could have solved a problem in ten hours that AOC couldn’t solve in four years. We can all be proud of that. As for abuela, all we can do now is pray.”
The #HelpAbuela raised $104,153 in less than 12 hours. Walsh disabled new donations on the GoFundMe page Friday night.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe confirmed to Fox News that the “beneficiary” did not want to accept the money and that “all donors will be fully refunded.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
On Tuesday, the Democratic “Squad” member took to Twitter following her visit to her “abuela” (“grandmother” in Spanish) for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak and documented the damage to her home that remained from the natural disaster in 2017.
“Just over a week ago, my abuela fell ill. I went to Puerto Rico to see her- my 1st time in a year+ bc of COVID. This is her home,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted while sharing images of buckets on the floor catching leaking water and damage to the ceiling. “Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR. People are being forced to flee ancestral homes, and developers are taking them.”
She continued, “We immediately got to work reaching out to community advocates and leaders and following the money. What’s happening to Puerto Ricans is systemic. Much of it can be traced to La Junta, aka the Wall Street-connected fiscal control board that the US gave power to over the island.”
Ocasio-Cortez accused the Trump administration of overseeing “millions in public $” being handed to “unqualified donor pals” and imposing “extremely difficult eligibility rules for Puerto Ricans, which allowed mass rejections of recovery fund applications.”
“I want to be clear – while Trump admin had a major role, it wasn’t just them,” the congresswoman wrote in the Twitter thread. “La Junta, local policies, etc were all on the same page: policies that pushed out local families. To turn this around, we need audits and get recovery relief to people ASAP, without the onerous strings. And for the record – my abuela is doing okay. It’s not about us, but about what’s happening to Puerto Rican’s across the island. She had a place to go to and be cared for – what about the thousands of people who don’t?”
At the time, Walsh reacted to her tweets saying, “Shameful that you live in luxury while allowing your own grandmother to suffer in these squalid conditions.”
The Democrat fired back, “You don’t even have a concept for the role that 1st-gen, first-born daughters play in their families. My abuela is okay. But instead of only caring for mine and letting others suffer, I’m calling attention to the systemic injustices you seem totally fine w/ in having a US colony.”
On Friday, Walsh launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to “Save AOC’s Abuela’s Ancestral Home.”
“One cannot be certain of the cost to repair grandma’s house, but surely most of the work could be completed for the price of AOC’s shiny Tesla Model 3,” Walsh wrote in the campaign description. “Sadly, virtue-signaling isn’t going to fix abuela’s roof. So we are.
Walsh continued, “Let’s all kick in to help save AOC’s abuela’s ancestral home. Any amount is appreciated, but the cost of a monthly lease payment on that Tesla is around $499… All proceeds will be donated to abuela, if she will accept them.”
The Daily Wire personality promoted the fundraiser on Twitter, revealing he kicked off the fundraising with a $499 donation, which he stressed is the cost of a Tesla monthly lease payment.
The #HelpAbuela campaign had attracted big-name donors including Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Dave Rubin.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
A right-wing writer who crowdfunded $100,000 to repair the Puerto Rico home of AOC’s grandmother says she declined to accept the money
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- Right-wing writer Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire raised over $100,000 for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s grandmother in Puerto Rico.
- Ocasio-Cortez posted photos of her grandmother’s home after Hurricane Maria. She called out delayed relief.
- Walsh accused the NY lawmaker of “virtue-signaling.”
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A right-wing writer crowdfunded over $100,000 after launching a campaign for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s grandmother.
Matt Walsh, a writer with conservative outlet the Daily Wire, began the GoFundMe on Friday after criticizing Ocasio-Cortez for “allowing” her grandma to live in dire conditions.
Ocasio-Cortez earlier this week tweeted out that her grandma is ill and hasn’t yet received hurricane relief in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which hit the US territory more than three years ago. In her tweet slamming former President Donald Trump over delayed relief in Puerto Rico, the New York lawmaker shared photos showing bare living quarters with ceiling tiles peeling off and buckets set up around a room to catch dripping water.
“This is her home. Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
Walsh targeted Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist, by accusing her of “virtue-signaling” and living large while her family needs help.
“Shameful that you live in luxury while allowing your own grandmother to suffer in these squalid conditions,” Walsh tweeted in response to Ocasio-Cortez.
Within hours of going live, Walsh’s campaign reached its goal of $48,990. Ocasio-Cortez’s grandmother has declined to accept the money, according to Walsh, who spoke with Insider. The campaign raised over $104,000 before GoFundMe shut it down, he said, and the money will be returned in full to each donor.
In a tweet in reply to Ocasio-Cortez, Walsh asked the New York rep to DM him details so he could send her grandma the raised funds.
Walsh told Insider AOC “ignored us” when he reached out over Twitter asking for the information to transfer funds over.
Walsh on Twitter wrote that GoFundMe in an email said the family has “made clear they will not be accepting the funds raised.”
After Walsh started the GoFundMe, #HelpAbuela began trending on Twitter.
Ocasio-Cortez posted photos of her grandmother’s home to illustrate the dire conditions in Puerto Rico post- Hurricane Maria. She faulted Trump for delaying and denying aid to the island after the catastrophic hurricane.
“What’s happening to Puerto Ricans is systemic,” she said in her tweet.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office also didn’t immediately respond to an email from Insider.
But in a tweet to Walsh, Ocasio-Cortez stressed that her grandma is doing okay and she is trying to raise awareness that Puerto Rico needs aid.
“My abuela is okay,” she said. “But instead of only caring for mine and letting others suffer, I’m calling attention to the systemic injustices you seem totally fine w/ in having a US colony.”
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