GoFundMe announces refund of all contributions for border wall fundraiser, but the project is not dead

Greg P. | 8:18 AM on January 12, 2019

And then it was done…

GoFundMe announced on Friday that it was returning all of the donations — roughly $ 20 million — for that campaign that raised funds to help pay for President Trump’s border wall:

Me: so, you’re automatically refunding $20 million?

.@gofundme: yes.

— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) January 11, 2019

According to Buzzfeed’s Bri Sacks, GoFundMe took this action after Brian Kolfage, the veteran behind the GoFundMe who we told you about yesterday and his past fundraising shenanigans, allegedly changed the terms of the fundraising which left in doubt if the money would be paid back if the campaign did not meet its $1 billion goal:

?? The $20million Build the Wall campaign is getting refunded. @gofundme is refunding everyone (~330,000 people) who donated because, according to a spokesperson, Brian Kolfage broke the original promise of the campaign to give the money back if they didn’t reach their goal pic.twitter.com/3HDAzTqrgf

— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) January 11, 2019

Refunds will be automatic unless a donor tells GoFundMe that he or she does not want the funds returned and instead sent to a new 501(c)(4) non-profit company that’s been set up build a portion of the wall on private land:

GoFundMe is asking wall donors if they'll allow their donations to be rerouted to a new “We Build the Wall” charity led by wounded vet and conservative media star Brian Kolfage. https://t.co/ayXHV0DvDQ https://t.co/74vX9XCNJ2

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) January 11, 2019

It's really pathetic that @bri_sacks with @Buzzfeed is so desperate to derail our perfect plan to build the wall that she's reporting absolute LIES to trick Americans into NOT opting back into the fund. Why is she so insistent to make so many slanderous allegations against me?

— Brian Kolfage (@BrianKolfage) January 11, 2019

GoFundMe released a statement explaining their actions:

From GoFundMe pic.twitter.com/A6PTgv9MBR

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) January 11, 2019

The new company that donors can choose to fund, seeks to build a wall on private land that it acquires in Texas:

The group aims to build "at least two miles" of border wall, rather than just pass along money to the federal govt. It says it's already in talks to buy/lease land in Texas https://t.co/18BLNRvE4x

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) January 11, 2019

And it has put together a pretty high-profile board of directors:

Star member of the board of directors for the new "We Build The Wall" charity reads like a Fox News Tiger Beat mag:

Kris Kobach
Erik Prince
Sara Carter
Sheriff David Clarke
Tom Tancredo https://t.co/ayXHV0DvDQ

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) January 11, 2019

Kolfage tweeted that his new group is ready to break ground in months:

We the people are kicking ass and building this wall!! The fake news won’t stop us…people donated more!! WIN WIN WIN!

We break ground on first wall section in MONTHS!!! https://t.co/YmS0A92h7m @PeteHegseth @gatewaypundit @MarkDice @DRUDGE_REPORT @RyanAFournier @gehrig38

— Brian Kolfage (@BrianKolfage) January 12, 2019

***

Prepare to be shocked! Let's check in on the border wall GoFundMe guy, shall we? https://t.co/2KlVd1xaZP

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 12, 2019