The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
-based
tax-exempt
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
private foundation
A private foundation is a tax-exempt organization not relying on broad public support and generally claiming to serve humanitarian purposes. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion ...
formed in 1988 by
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and dissolved by court order in 2019 after various legal violations came to light.
The foundation was created to receive royalties from Trump's 1987 book ''
Trump: The Art of the Deal'' as well as donations from others, for the stated purpose of distributing the funds to charitable causes. Trump's children
Ivanka,
Eric
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
, and
Donald Jr. served on the board, which did not meet after 1999.
Trump stopped contributing to the foundation in 2008, but continued to solicit donations.
The foundation's activities came under scrutiny during the
2016 presidential election campaign, initially by ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
's''
David Fahrenthold
David A. Fahrenthold (born 1978) is an American journalist who writes for ''The New York Times.'' Previously he wrote for ''The Washington Post''. He has also served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2017, he was awarded the Pulit ...
. Law enforcement investigators subsequently discovered various ethical and legal violations, including failure to register in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
self-dealing
Self-dealing is the conduct of a trustee, attorney, corporate officer, or other fiduciary that consists of taking advantage of their position in a transaction and acting in their own interests rather than in the interests of the beneficiaries of ...
and illegal campaign contributions. In December 2016, Trump tried to dissolve the foundation, but the
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
's office blocked dissolution pending completion of its investigations.
Trump served as its president until January 2017, three days after his inauguration as U.S. president.
On June 14, 2018, New York attorney general
Barbara Underwood
Barbara Dale Underwood (born August 16, 1944) is an American lawyer currently serving as the Solicitor General of New York. She was first appointed to the position in January 2007 by Andrew Cuomo, who was then serving as the state's Attorney Gen ...
filed a civil suit against the foundation, Trump himself, and Trump's adult children—Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.—alleging "a shocking pattern of illegality" with respect to the foundation's money. On December 18, 2018, Underwood announced that the foundation had agreed to shut down under court supervision and distribute its remaining assets to court-approved charities, although she did not end investigations of the foundation and its directors.
In November 2019, Trump admitted to using the foundation for his business and political purposes and was ordered to pay $2million as restitution.
Additionally, Trump was required to reimburse $11,525 to the foundation, which was added to $1,797,598.30 already in the foundation's bank account. The money as well as the funds in the foundation's bank were paid to eight charities in December 2019.
The winding up of the foundation and the settlement did not end investigations of the foundation and its directors nor resolve any other potential prosecutions of Trump and others arising from the dealings by or through the foundation. On February 22, 2021, the Supreme Court in ''
Trump v. Vance
''Trump v. Vance'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark US Supreme Court case arising from a subpoena issued in August 2019 by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. against Mazars, then- ...
'' rejected any further delay in the production of Trump's tax records by Trump's accountants Mazars, under an August 2019 subpoena. Mazars handed over to Vance millions of pages of documents containing Trump's tax returns from January 2011 to August 2019, as well as financial statements, engagement agreements, documents relating to the preparation and review of tax returns, and work papers and communications related to the tax returns.
Overview
Stated purpose and structure
Donald Trump formed the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 1988 as a
private foundation
A private foundation is a tax-exempt organization not relying on broad public support and generally claiming to serve humanitarian purposes. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion ...
.
Its initial stated purpose was to distribute proceeds from Trump's book,''
Trump: The Art of the Deal,'' to charitable causes.
Like many other private foundations, the Trump Foundation conducted no charitable programs of its own; instead granting money to other tax-exempt organizations.
The foundation was based at
The Trump Organization
The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmother ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and had no paid staff or dedicated office space.
Donald Trump was its president until January 2017, three days after his inauguration as U.S. President. Trump's three adult children – Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – were all listed as on the
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, as was Trump Organization's treasurer/CFO
Allen Weisselberg
Allen Howard Weisselberg (born August 15, 1947) is an American businessman who was the chief financial officer (CFO) of the Trump Organization. Weisselberg served as a co-trustee of a trust set up in 2017 by Donald Trump before Trump's inaugurat ...
. In 2017, Weisselberg claimed in a deposition to New York State investigators that he wasn't aware he was a board member "at least for the last 10 or 15 years".
According to the New York attorney general, the board had not met after 1999.
In 2015, a Trump Organization spokesperson told the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' that Trump made all decisions regarding the granting of the foundation's money.
According to the foundation's
IRS Form 990
Form 990 (officially, the "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") is a United States Internal Revenue Service form that provides the public with financial information about a nonprofit organization. It is often the only source of such i ...
filing for 2013, in making grants the directors were not subject to any "restrictions or limitations on awards such as by geographical areas, charitable fields, kinds of institutions, or other factors".
Sources of funds
Until 2015, Trump contributed $5.5million to the Trump Foundation, including money from his book, while outside donors contributed an additional $9.3million.
His final payment to the foundation was $35,000 in 2008.
Many of the outside donors to the foundation have done business with Trump or the
Trump Organization
Trump most commonly refers to:
* Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021)
* Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank
Trump may also refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Donald J. T ...
.
Several philanthropy experts said having a family foundation primarily funded by outside money is unusual.
The top donors to the foundation from 2004 to 2014 were
Vince
Vince is a given name, it is the anglicisation and shortened form of the name Vincent, as well as a surname.
It may refer to:
Given name People
* Vince Agnew (born 1987), American football player
* Vince Cable (born 1943), British politician ...
and
Linda McMahon
Linda Marie McMahon (née Edwards; October 4, 1948) is an American political executive, retired professional wrestler, executive, and performer. She served as the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.
McMahon ...
of
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
(WWE), or WWE itself. $5million was donated to the foundation after Trump appeared at
WrestleMania
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 37 editions followed, mos ...
in 2007 and 2009.
The donations were reported by the Trump Foundation as coming from the WWE, but the WWE has claimed money came from Vince and Linda McMahon personally. Later, when Linda McMahon was running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, the McMahons claimed the funds came from Vince only.
Some have alleged that the money was paid as compensation to Trump and therefore should have been subject to payroll taxes.
Trump solicited donations in lieu of payment for other services as well. In 2005
Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...
donated $100,000 in lieu of an appearance fee for
Melania Trump
Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...
.
In 2006, ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' magazine donated $150,000 for an exclusive right to publish baby photos of Barron Trump. In 2011
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
donated $400,000 for Trump's appearance in a broadcast comedy
roast
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...
of himself.
Dissolution
In September 2016 the New York attorney general's office, which administers the state's Charities Bureau, announced it was investigating the Trump Foundation based on its failure to file required forms with the bureau. One week later the office issued a "Notice of Violation".
In December 2016, one month before his inauguration, then
president-elect
An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...
Trump announced that he would dissolve the Trump Foundation to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict with
isrole as President".
However, the office of the
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
blocked the dissolution, saying the foundation "cannot legally dissolve" until its current investigation is completed.
In June 2018 the same office filed a civil suit against the Trump Foundation and its board members, ordering (among other requirements) that it be shut down and that restitution be made by its board members. The office also referred information on possible legal violations to the FEC and the IRS.
The following month, the New York State governor's chief counsel announced that Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
was ready to provide the state's attorney general's office with the requisite
criminal referral
A criminal referral or criminal recommendation is a notice to a prosecutory body, recommending criminal investigation or prosecutor, prosecution of one or more entities for crimes which fall into that body's jurisdiction.
In the Federal governmen ...
in the matter for possible criminal prosecution under state law.
In December of that year, the foundation signed a stipulation agreement to dissolve, with its assets going only to charities approved by the attorney general's office. Soon after, Attorney General Underwood announced that the foundation had agreed to shut down under court supervision and distribute its remaining assets to court-approved charities, although she did not end investigations of the foundation and its directors.
Investigations by ''The Washington Post'' and others
During the
2016 U.S. presidential election,
David Fahrenthold
David A. Fahrenthold (born 1978) is an American journalist who writes for ''The New York Times.'' Previously he wrote for ''The Washington Post''. He has also served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2017, he was awarded the Pulit ...
of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' began looking into Trump's history of charitable giving. In January 2016, Trump held a fundraiser for veterans' causes in lieu of appearing at a televised Republican debate. He claimed that the event raised $6million, including $1 million of his own money.
Fahrenthold began his investigation by attempting to verify the receipt and disbursal of the $6million. All donations were supposed to have gone into the Trump Foundation and then granted by the foundation to others. Fahrenthold determined instead that, several months after the rally, the Trump Foundation had yet to disburse funds to any veteran-related charities.
Although some of the funds went directly to causes without passing through the Trump Foundation, Fahrenthold widened his investigation into a larger investigation into Trump's history of charitable giving.
In the November 2019 settlement ordering Trump to pay $2million in damages, he acknowledged that the veterans' fundraiser had been a campaign event and that his campaign had been given full control of the raised funds.
In June 2016, in response to criticism, Trump asserted publicly that he had given about $102million to charitable causes from 2009 through 2015 and released a 93-page list of more than 4,800 donations. Just under $90million of the total was in the form of
conservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...
s on Trump properties or land donations to the State of New York; the list also contained more than 2,900 donations of free rounds of golf. Further investigations led to an increasing list of allegations of abuse inside the foundation since its creation.
Fahrenthold's investigation into the Trump Foundation and Trump's history of personal charitable giving involved hundreds of calls to charities associated with Donald Trump; it was also notable in that he drew heavily on support and investigative help from a large number of his
Twitter followers who helped him track down leads on specific charities.
Fahrenthold received the 2017
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National.
Li ...
for his investigations into the Trump Foundation.
Legal and ethical controversies
Accusations against Trump and his foundation include the following:
Failure to maintain proper governance
In a June 2018 petition filed by the office of the New York attorney general, it was explained that:
In an exhibit attached to the filing, Trump Foundation treasurer Allen Weisselberg claimed he had not been aware that he was the treasurer or on the board of the foundation until he was approached by investigators.
Solicitation of donations without a license
Under New York State law, a not-for-profit foundation must register as a "7A Charitable Organization" if it plans to solicit outside donations over $25,000 in any year.
The Trump Foundation was initially registered as a private foundation set up solely to receive his own personal donations. As long as it was private and did not solicit outside funds, it did not have to file annual audited reports with the New York State Charities Bureau.
However, records show that Trump began soliciting donations at least as early as 2004
and possibly as early as 1989.
Mishandling of funds raised for veterans' causes
In April 2016,
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
reported that more than two months after Trump said he had raised $6million for military veterans at a pre-
Iowa caucus
The Iowa caucuses are biennial electoral events for members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections in most other U.S. states, where registered voters go to polling places to cast ballot ...
fundraiser, "most of the organizations targeted to receive the money have gotten less than half of that amount."
Around that time, Trump also said he had contributed $1,000,000 of his personal funds.
In late May, Trump revised his figures downward, saying $5.6million had been raised at the event and that he had contributed his one million only the previous week, after the media criticized him.
He also provided a list of the beneficiaries of the $5.6million, although the full amount is disputed in a lawsuit filed by New York State in 2018, which cites an amount of $2.8million.
Coordinating foundation grants with Trump's presidential campaign
Trump may have used Trump Foundation grants to advance his presidential campaign, in violation of rules barring charities from engaging in political activity.
Trump distributed at least some of the funds publicly at "Donald Trump for President" rallies, displaying large-size donation checks that included his campaign slogan "
Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" or MAGA is an American political slogan popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in ...
" or a link to a campaign website.
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg testified in an October 2017 deposition that he had witnessed Donald Trump's campaign staff coordinate with Trump to use the Iowa fundraiser to benefit the campaign.
In 2018,
New York State attorney general
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
Barbara Underwood
Barbara Dale Underwood (born August 16, 1944) is an American lawyer currently serving as the Solicitor General of New York. She was first appointed to the position in January 2007 by Andrew Cuomo, who was then serving as the state's Attorney Gen ...
alleged in a larger suit against the foundation that Trump, in using the foundation to promote his campaign during and after the Iowa fundraiser, had violated charities laws.
Grants to the National Museum of Catholic Art and Library
In each of 1995 and 1999, the Trump Foundation granted $50,000 to the National Museum of Catholic Art and Library. A 2001 report by ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' stated, after visiting the museum in
East Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...
, that the facility had "next to no art" and no official connection to the
Catholic church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, despite a ten-year record of having solicited large-scale donations for its collection. The ''Voice'' and, later, ''The Washington Post'', concluded that Trump may have directed the grants to the museum to curry favor with the museum's then-chairman, Eddie Malloy, who was also head of the
Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. The council had worked on behalf of one of the unions of workers who worked on Trump construction projects.
Failure to make pledged 9/11 grants
An investigation by the
New York City Comptroller
The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...
's office in October 2016 showed that Trump and/or the Donald Trump Foundation may have failed to honor at least one pledge to charities established to provide relief for victims of the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
. Trump had made a pledge of $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund on ''
The Howard Stern Show
''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...
'' in late September 2001.
The Twin Towers Fund, later administered as part of the New York City Public and Private Initiative, was created by then-
New York City Mayor
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
Rudolph Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
"to benefit the families of firefighters and police officers who died in the attacks."
During the
2016 Republican National Convention
The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...
, Giuliani announced that Trump had made unspecified "anonymous" donations after the September 11 attacks, although such donations have not been identified.
Giuliani also said, in support of Trump's candidacy, "Every time New York City suffered a tragedy Donald Trump was there to help... He's not going to like my telling you this but he did it anonymously."
The New York City Comptroller's office told the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' it had manually reviewed "approximately 1,500 pages of donor records of the Twin Towers Fund and the related entity NYC Public/Private Initiatives Inc., containing the names of more than 110,000 individuals and entities that were collected as part of the audits" through August 2012. According to the ''News'', Comptroller
Scott Stringer
Scott M. Stringer (born April 29, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 44th New York City Comptroller. A Democrat, Stringer also previously served as a New York State Assemblyman, and as the 26th borough president of Manhattan.
I ...
"found that Trump and
he Trump Foundationhadn't donated a dime in the months after 9/11"; however, because the reviewed period covered only one year after the attacks, the Comptroller's office was "unable to conclude definitively" that Trump never gave to the fund after August 2002.
According to its
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
Form 990
Form 990 (officially, the "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") is a United States Internal Revenue Service form that provides the public with financial information about a nonprofit organization. It is often the only source of such i ...
tax filings, the Trump Foundation made no grants to the Twin Towers Fund or to NYC Public/Private Initiatives, Inc. from 2002 through 2014, although Trump may have made personal donations after August 2002 that would not have shown up in these filings.
In 2016, after the convention, Trump's campaign suggested that the Trump Foundation made a grant to the
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...
after the attacks; however, no record of it exists in the foundation's tax filings from 2001 through 2014. As with the Twin Towers Fund, if Trump instead had made a personal donation, it would not have shown up in the foundation's records.
Using Trump Foundation money to settle Trump Organization legal disputes
Trump may have used foundation money to settle his personal or business legal disputes on at least two occasions.
In 2007, Trump used Trump Foundation funds to settle a 2006 legal dispute between the
Town of Palm Beach,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, and Trump's
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
country club. The town said the club's flagpole violated town height limit rules and levied a daily accruing fine against the club. The club's flagpole was 80 feet tall, 38 feet above limits imposed by the town. Palm Beach began fining Trump $1,250 per day for the violation. Trump countersued Palm Beach for $25million on US constitutional grounds for restricting his 1st amendment rights of free speech and his 14th amendment rights of equal protection. The suit alleged that at least twenty other properties had violated the height restrictions but were not similarly fined. It also alleged that a shorter flagpole "would fail to appropriately express the magnitude of Donald J. Trump's... patriotism."
Trump eventually reached a legal settlement with Palm Beach after, according to the ''
Sun Sentinel
The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
,'' "secret, court-ordered negotiations."
Settlement documents show that Trump, in return for discharging the club's obligations to Palm Beach, had agreed to personally donate $100,000 to
Fischer House, a charity benefitting veterans and military families. However, Trump then made the grant using foundation money, not his own.
Trump's foundation paid $158,000 to the Martin B. Greenberg Foundation as settlement of a suit brought by Greenberg against the
Trump National Golf Club Westchester
Trump National Golf Club Westchester is a private golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The course has eighteen holes, with a clubhouse. Founded in 1922 as ''Briarcliff Country Club'', it later operated as ''Briar Hills Country Club'' and '' ...
in
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...
. Greenberg alleged that he had rightfully won a $1million prize for scoring a
hole-in-one
In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a h ...
in a 2010 charity golf tournament at the club but the club had denied the award on technical grounds, arguing the hole was shorter than the required 150 yards.
Martin Greenberg sued and a settlement was reached at a significantly reduced amount. ''The Washington Post'' reported that "on the day that Trump and the other parties told the court that they had settled the case, the Donald J. Trump Foundation made its first and only grant to the Martin B. Greenberg Foundation, for $158,000."
In September 2016, the ''Post'' reported that the grant was directly linked to the legal settlement, likely violating IRS self-dealing rules by using charitable funds to pay Trump's personal or business obligations.
To raise the money needed to make the settlement, the Trump Foundation auctioned a prize of lifetime golf membership at Trump-owned golf courses, with the winning bid bringing a $157,000 donation to the Trump Foundation to the foundation to offset the payment to the Greenberg Foundation.
The winner of the auction may have believed he was donating to Trump Foundation charitable causes.
According to the Trump Foundation's publicly available tax returns, Trump National Golf Club Westchester paid over $200,000 to the Trump Foundation in 2016, with $158,000 of the funds designated as repayment of the foundation funds used toward the Martin B. Greenberg settlement.
Donation to Florida attorney general Pam Bondi
In 2013, the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 in support of
Florida attorney general
The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs.
The office is one of Florida's t ...
Pam Bondi
Pamela Jo Bondi (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A Republican, she served as the 37th Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office.
In 2020, Bondi was one of Presid ...
's election campaign while Bondi's office was reviewing fraud allegations against
Trump University
Trump University (also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC) was an American company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. It was owned and operated by The Trump Organization. A sep ...
, a for-profit real estate program.
Around that time Trump also hosted a fundraiser for Bondi at his Mar-a-Lago resort at a fee well below his normal market rate.
Bondi's office later ended the investigation without bringing charges.
According to a Trump Foundation attorney, "the
25,000contribution was made in error due to a case of mistaken identity of organizations with the same name." Trump later personally reimbursed his foundation for the $25,000. The foundation paid a $2,500 fine for violating IRS rules against political contributions by charitable organizations.
In 2016 New York attorney general
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
said publicly that the Trump Foundation was the subject of an ongoing investigation by his office.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 Founded ...
(CREW), a not-for-profit watchdog group, filed a complaint with the IRS (see below). It also cast doubt on Trump's story after obtaining a letter from the Trump Foundation's attorney to the New York attorney general's office. "We're past the point where a reasonable person could believe this is just a never-ending series of once in a lifetime errors," said CREW Communications Director Jordan Libowitz. "This may not be anything nefarious, but if it isn't, that would mean that the Trump operation is completely inept when it comes to running the Trump Foundation."
On October 5, 2016, ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported details of how Trump had on several other occasions since as early as the 1980s made campaign donations to various US state attorneys general while they had been reviewing cases involving the Trump Organization or Trump personally, although the Bondi case is the only one it cited as having involved Trump Foundation money.
Grants allegedly made for political purposes
Trump paid $100,000 of Trump Foundation funds in 2012 to
Reverend Franklin Graham's
Billy Graham Evangelical Association.
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
has called Graham "an early ally" of Trump.
"The more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, 'You know, maybe the guy's right,'" Graham had told
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
in 2011.
In October 2016 Graham revealed to the ''
Charlotte Observer
''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...
'' that in 2012 he had instructed Trump to make the $100,000 donation, and that the money was used to pay for full-page ads urging voters to support candidates in the
2012 presidential election who supported "biblical values". ''The Observer'' has suggested the timing and tone of the ads indicate they were placed in support of
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
's campaign.
Graham also heads
Boone, North Carolina
Boone is a town in and the county seat of Watauga County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Boone is the home of Appalachian State University and the headquarters for the disaster a ...
-based
Samaritan's Purse
Samaritan's Purse is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The organization's president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist ...
, a Christian relief agency that received $25,000 from the Trump Foundation in 2012. Graham credits then-
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
anchor
Greta Van Susteren
Greta Conway Van Susteren (born June 11, 1954) is an American commentator, lawyer, and television news anchor for Newsmax TV. She was previously on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. She hosted Fox News's ''On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren'' for 14 y ...
for having solicited that donation. Van Susteren and her TV crew had accompanied Graham on Samaritan's Purse trips to Haiti and North Korea. The ''Charlotte Observer'' quoted Graham saying, "
rump
Rump may refer to:
* Rump (animal)
** Buttocks
* Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America
* Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD
Politics
*Rump cabinet
* Rump legislature
* Ru ...
was on her show, and
an Susterensaid, 'I was just in Haiti and Samaritan's Purse is doing this down there, and Donald, you need to help.' He sent a check out."
In 2016, several media outlets alleged that Van Susteren had been producing overtly pro-Trump reports on her Fox News show
''On the Record''.
In 2014 the Trump Foundation made a $100,000 grant to the
Citizens United Foundation, a charitable foundation closely related to
David Bossie
David Norman Bossie (born November 1, 1965) is an American political activism, political activist. Since 2000, he has been president and chairman of conservative advocacy group Citizens United (organization), Citizens United and in 2016, Bossie w ...
's conservative group,
Citizens United
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
. At the time Citizens United was engaged in a lawsuit against
New York State attorney general
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
, whose office was pursuing a civil suit against
Trump University
Trump University (also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC) was an American company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. It was owned and operated by The Trump Organization. A sep ...
. It was the largest single grant made by the Trump Foundation that year. Schneiderman's office called the grant part of a "vendetta" by Trump, while Citizens United rejected any connection between the grant and its own suit against Schneiderman. The Trump Foundation's 2014 tax filing
misidentified Citizens United as a public charity (501(c)(3)) when it is in fact a social welfare organization (501(c)(4)).
The Trump Foundation donated a total of $40,000 from 2011 through 2013 to the
Drumthwacket
Drumthwacket ( ) is the official residence of the governor of New Jersey. The mansion sits at 354 Stockton Street in Princeton, near the state capital of Trenton. It is one of only four official governor's residences in the country not locat ...
Foundation, a charitable organization formed to pay for renovation and historic preservation of the New Jersey governor's mansion of the same name. In 2011, Trump was seeking to acquire permits to build a personal cemetery on the fairway at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey and may have needed political help in obtaining approval for the permit.
Trump directed $100,000 of Trump Foundation money toward the
National September 11 Memorial Museum days before the 2016 New York State Republican presidential primary, where he was on the ballot, mischaracterizing the foundation grant as a personal donation.
In May 2015, the Trump Foundation granted $10,000 to
Project Veritas
Project Veritas is an American far-right activist group founded by James O'Keefe in 2010. The group produces deceptively edited videos of its undercover operations, which use secret recordings in an effort to discredit mainstream media o ...
, a news organisation run by conservative filmmaker
James O'Keefe
James Edward O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is an American political activist and provocateur who founded Project Veritas, a far-right activist group that uses deceptive editing techniques to attack mainstream media organizations and progr ...
. In October 2016, O'Keefe released video which purportedly reveals how Democrats incited violence at Trump rallies.
During the third
2016 presidential debate, Trump claimed that new videos produced by O'Keefe and released that week proved
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
had "hired people" and "paid them $1,500" to "be violent, cause fights,
nddo bad things" at Trump rallies.
A
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
spokesman noted Trump's donation after Project Veritas released another video on the 2016 presidential election. A Project Veritas spokesman said the Trump Foundation's donation "didn't impact our actions one way or the other" and were a small part of the organization's budget.
Trump may have strategically directed money from the Trump Foundation to support his presidential campaign. In one case, the grants were used specifically to pay for newspaper ads.
In October 2016 ''
RealClearPolitics
RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...
'' reported that Trump directed significant amounts of foundation money to conservative organizations, possibly in return for political support and access. The news organization found that, from 2011 through 2014, Trump had "harnessed his eponymous foundation to send at least $286,000 to influential conservative or policy groups... In many cases, this flow of money corresponded to prime speaking slots or endorsements that aided Trump as he sought to recast himself as a plausible Republican candidate for president." At least two of the groups are based in Republican-leaning early
presidential primary
The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various U.S. state, states, the Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States preside ...
states.
In addition to Citizens United (above), groups include Iowa's
The Family Leader
The Family Leader (stylized The FAMiLY LEADER) is an American socially conservative umbrella group comprising The Family Leader Foundation, Marriage Matters, Iowa Family PAC, and Iowans for Freedom. The Family Leader is loosely affiliated with the ...
, the South Carolina
Palmetto Family Council
Palmetto Family Council is a nonprofit public policy organization focused upon implementing conservative Christian ideas in South Carolina state law, especially concerning sexual morality. It opposes same-sex marriage, sex education, and vaccina ...
, the
American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded on ...
, and the American Spectator Foundation.
Trump's granting of foundation money to these groups could have violated the law, if it was in return for his personal right to speak or gain access to networking events.
* The Trump Foundation's grant of $10,000 in 2013 to
The Family Leader
The Family Leader (stylized The FAMiLY LEADER) is an American socially conservative umbrella group comprising The Family Leader Foundation, Marriage Matters, Iowa Family PAC, and Iowans for Freedom. The Family Leader is loosely affiliated with the ...
may have led to a speaking engagement for Trump. The Family Leader is an Iowa-based organization whose stated mission is to "strengthen families, by inspiring Christ-like leadership in the home, the church, and the government." Following the grant, the group's leader, Vader Plaats, invited Trump to speak at its leadership summit.
These grants may also have been illegal because The Family Leader is a 501(c)(4) corporation established to "develop, advocate and support legislative agenda at the state level" and not a charity. The Trump Foundation is prohibited from donating money for non-charity purposes. However, Trump may have intended to make a grant to The Family Leader's affiliated foundation, The Family Leader Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation.
* Trump was invited to speak at the
American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded on ...
's
Conservative Political Action Conference
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU). ...
("CPAC") in 2013 after directing $50,000 of Trump Foundation money to the organization. Also in 2013, Trump was invited to speak to the
Economic Club of Washington after the Trump Foundation made a grant there.
Partial payment of an assessment owed by the Plaza Hotel
In 1989, the Trump Foundation paid more than half a "voluntary assessment" imposed on the
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...
by the
Central Park Conservancy
The Central Park Conservancy is a private, nonprofit park conservancy that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York and NYC Parks. The conservancy employs most maintenance and operations staff in the park. It effectivel ...
. The hotel was owned by the Trump Organization at the time and the assessment was for the renovation of the severely dilapidated
Pulitzer Fountain Pulitzer may refer to:
*Joseph Pulitzer, a 20th century media magnate
*Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award
*Pulitzer (surname)
* Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain
*Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...
at
Grand Army Plaza
Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. ...
, which directly faced the hotel. Toward the $500,000 assessment, the foundation granted $264,631 to the Conservancy while the Trump Organization paid between $100,000 and $250,000. The grant to the Conservancy was the largest single grant made by the Trump Foundation from inception through at least 2015.
Purchasing goods and services for personal or business benefit with foundation money
* On three occasions, Trump used the foundation's money to purchase artists' portraits of himself.
** In 2007, Trump spent $20,000 in Trump Foundation funds to purchase a six-foot-tall portrait of himself by artist Michael Israel at a benefit for a Florida charity, th
Children's Place at Homespace held at his
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
country club in Florida after his wife
Melania Trump
Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...
made the highest bid.
[David A. Fahrenthold]
Trump bought a 6-foot-tall portrait of himself with charity money. We may have found it
, ''The Washington Post'' (September 14, 2016).[Louis Jacobson]
Barack Obama says Trump foundation took other people's money, bought a six-foot-tall painting
, ''PolitiFact'' (September 13, 2016). The painter's former production manager told ''The Washington Post'' that he had, at the request of Trump's wife
Melania
Melania is a feminine given name that derives from the Greek word (melania) meaning "black, dark".
People named Melania include:
* Melania the Elder (350–410), a Christian saint and an influential figure in the ascetic movement
* Melania the ...
, shipped the painting to the
Trump National Golf Club Westchester
Trump National Golf Club Westchester is a private golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The course has eighteen holes, with a clubhouse. Founded in 1922 as ''Briarcliff Country Club'', it later operated as ''Briar Hills Country Club'' and '' ...
in
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...
, allegedly for display in the country club's boardroom or conference room.
The charity paid half the proceeds, $10,000, to the artist for the painting, which established that the painting had a fair market value of at least that amount. Tax experts told the ''Post'' that if it was displayed at the golf club, it could violate
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
rules prohibiting non-profits from
self-dealing
Self-dealing is the conduct of a trustee, attorney, corporate officer, or other fiduciary that consists of taking advantage of their position in a transaction and acting in their own interests rather than in the interests of the beneficiaries of ...
, i.e. charitable funding of a noncharitable purpose.
In September 2016, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
publicly criticized Trump's purchase of the painting.
** In 2019, former Trump Organization attorney
Michael Cohen testified to the
House Committee on Oversight that in 2013 Trump had used a straw purchaser, billionaire
Stewart Rahr
Stewart J. Rahr is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Rahr was the founder and owner of pharmaceutical and generics wholesaler Kinray, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical distributor in the world until it was bought out ...
, to ensure a portrait of himself would be sold for the highest price. Rahr paid $60,000 for a 9-foot tall portrait of Trump by artist
William Quigley. He was reimbursed with money from the Trump Foundation. After the sale, Trump
tweeted
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
"Just found out that at a charity auction of celebrity portraits in E. Hampton, my portrait by artist William Quigley topped the list at $60K." Trump kept the painting.
** In 2014, at a charity for the Unicorn Children's Foundation, held at his
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
resort, Trump purchased a four-foot-tall portrait of himself in the 1990s by Argentine artist
Havi Schanz and paid for it with $20,000 of Trump Foundation funds.
A photo of the portrait was found on a
TripAdvisor review of
Trump National Doral Miami
Trump National Doral Miami is a golf resort in Doral in South Florida in the United States. It was founded by real estate pioneer Alfred Kaskel in 1962, with the name "Doral" coming from an amalgamation of the first names of Kaskel and his wife ...
. Later, a reporter for
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
went to the club, asked the various staff about the painting and eventually discovered it hanging on a wall at the golf resort's Champions Bar & Grill restaurant. Trump
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
spokesperson
Boris Epshteyn
Boris Epshteyn (born August 14, 1982) is a Russian-American Republican political strategist, investment banker, and attorney. He was a strategic advisor on the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign and has remained a close advisor to Trump in ...
said that Trump's use of the painting at Trump's Champions Bar & Grill was not "absolutely proper" under an IRS rule allowing individuals to store items "on behalf of the foundation—in order to help with storage costs" and that Trump was "doing his foundation a favor" by using the portrait on the restaurant wall.
* In 2008, Trump used $107,000 of Trump Foundation funds to purchase a luxury trip to Paris, including a meeting with actress
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek Pinault ( , ; born Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez; September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well as the ...
, at a charity auction for the Gucci Foundation.
* In 2012, Trump bid $12,000 at a charity auction, hosted at his
Mar-a-lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
club, to purchase an
NFL football helmet autographed by
Tim Tebow, as well as a Tebow jersey. While Trump was given credit for personal generosity in newspaper accounts, the purchase was made with foundation money, not his own. The current whereabouts of the helmet and jersey are unknown. Tax law experts say if Trump kept them, the purchase might have violated the self-dealing rule, which bans private foundations from "the furnishing of goods" to their officers.
* ''
The Palm Beach Post
''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and ''The Palm Beach Daily News'' we ...
'' has suggested that Trump benefited personally when the Trump Foundation made grants totaling $20,000 during 2012 through 2014 in return for band and choir performances held at his resorts.
* In 2013, the Trump Foundation made a $5,000 grant to the non-profit D.C. Preservation League. According to ''The Washington Post'', the nonprofit's support helped the Trump Organization obtain the rights to convert
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
's historic
Old Post Office Pavilion
The Old Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. It is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National ...
into the Trump International Hotel. In acknowledgment of the donation, the Trump Foundation received ads in the event programs; the ads promoted Trump's hotels rather than the foundation, in possible violation of IRS self-dealing rules.
Diversion of taxable income to the foundation as donations
''The Washington Post'' reported in September 2016 that Donald Trump had directed that $2.3million owed to him and his organization by various people and organizations should be paid instead to his foundation as donations, possibly evading personal income taxes.
The ''Post'' found old ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' coverage showing that Trump may have started directing income to the Trump Foundation as early as 1989. IRS rules prohibit individuals from diverting taxable income owed to them toward charities if they benefit directly from those charities unless the individual declares the income on his tax forms.
Since Trump had yet to release his income taxes at that time, the ''Post'' was unable to confirm if the income was declared for any of the donations received.
The Trump Foundation received at least $1.9million from ticket broker Richard Ebers. Richard Ebers had bought goods and services, including tickets, from "Trump or his businesses"; he was allegedly instructed to make payment for them to the Trump Foundation in the form of charitable contributions instead of as income for the Trump organization.
The Trump Foundation received a total of $5million in donations from
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
owner
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the w ...
and his wife
Linda McMahon
Linda Marie McMahon (née Edwards; October 4, 1948) is an American political executive, retired professional wrestler, executive, and performer. She served as the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.
McMahon ...
from 2007 to 2009.
Trump appeared twice in
WrestleMania
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 37 editions followed, mos ...
events, in 2007 and again in 2009. One donation to the foundation was $4million in 2007; the second was $1million in 2009. The WWE later told
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
that "during this period, WWE paid Donald Trump appearance fees separately," and "separately,
WE chief executivesVince and Linda McMahon made personal donations to Donald Trump's foundation."
In 2007, the Celebrity Fight Night Foundation hosted a fundraiser to benefit the
Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
. According to a Celebrity Fight Night Foundation spokesperson, in return for Trump's appearance and his offering a New York-based dinner with himself at auction, Trump stipulated that the Parkinson's charity share the total auction proceeds with the Trump Foundation. The Trump Foundation subsequently received $150,000 of auction proceeds that would otherwise have gone to the center benefitting
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
research.
Other donations made to the Trump Foundation that may have been in return for Trump's personal work include:
* $400,000 from
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
as payment for Trump's attendance at a
celebrity roast
A roast is a form of humor in which a specific individual, a guest of honor, is subjected to jokes at their expense, intended to amuse the event's wider audience. Such events are intended to honor a specific individual in a unique way. In addition ...
in his honor.
* $150,000 from
''People Magazine'' in return for exclusive photos of Trump's son, Barron Trump.
* $500,000 from
NBC Universal
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
in 2012 while the network was airing Trump's show, ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...
.''
* $100,000 from the family of Donna Clancy, whose family law office had been renting space at the Trump Organization's
40 Wall Street
40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau and William streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. Erected in 1929–1930 as the headquarters of the Manhat ...
building.
* $100,000 in 2005 for work by Trump's wife
Melania
Melania is a feminine given name that derives from the Greek word (melania) meaning "black, dark".
People named Melania include:
* Melania the Elder (350–410), a Christian saint and an influential figure in the ascetic movement
* Melania the ...
for
Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...
s for a segment that was later included in Trump's show, ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...
''. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that the appearance fee to Melania was paid in the form of a donation to the Trump Foundation.
Granting money to charities that rented Trump Organization facilities
Trump has been accused of directing foundation money toward several charities that in turn paid the Trump Organization to host charity events at Trump-owned hotels and golf clubs.
High-profile charity events at
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
cost as much as $300,000.
Some examples:
* In 2010, Trump was personally honored for his support by the Palm Beach Police Foundation after the Trump Foundation donated to the charity $150,000 during the period of 2009–2010.
According to the police foundation's public tax records, Palm Beach Police Foundation paid the Trump Organization $276,463 in rent in 2014 for its "Police Ball and Auction"
which was held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago hotel.
The 2014 tax form also lists $44,332 in unattributed "direct expenses" paid by the police foundation for the same event as well as $36,608 in "direct expenses" for its annual "Golf Classic", which the police foundation holds annually at a Trump Organization-owned golf course.
For each of the four years prior to 2014, the police foundation's public tax records show significant "direct expenses" incurred for both the tournament and the Ball and Auction, although expense categories are not cited in the filings.
* In 2013, according to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', Trump donated $10,000 to the
V Foundation
James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster.
Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...
, a cancer-fighting group founded by former basketball coach
Jim Valvano
James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster.
Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Carolin ...
, in return for the V Foundation holding a fundraiser at his
Trump Winery in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
* The
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...
paid the Trump Organization substantial fees to hold annual events at
Mar-A-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
. The Trump Foundation in turn granted to the Institute a total of $85,000 for 2006 and 2007, among other grants in subsequent years.
[''The Foundation Directory, 2009 Edition'', p. 7170 (David G. Jacobs, Senior Editor).][''The Foundation Directory, 2010 Edition'', p. 7129 (David G. Jacobs, Senior Editor).]
Trump taking personal credit for donations made using foundation money
Both ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
reported that Trump repeatedly claimed in public, beginning in 2015, to have made over "$102million" in charitable donations "in the past five years". The Trump Organization provided journalists with a 93-page list of the donations. None of the cash donations were confirmed to come from Trump himself; many were actually grants from the Trump Foundation.
For example, Trump took personal credit and was honored for a Trump Foundation grant to the Palm Beach Police Foundation that was actually from an outside source (see above). He had pledged the money personally, and then the Trump Foundation solicited the $150,000 earmarked for the police foundation from an unrelated philanthropic organization, the Charles Evans Foundation. The Trump Foundation then paid the Palm Beach charity.
The police then honored Trump personally with its annual Palm Tree Award at Trump's
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
hotel at its annual fundraiser. ''The Washington Post'' wrote that "Trump had effectively turned the Evans Foundation's gifts into his gifts, without adding any money of his own."
The
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...
has honored Trump variously as "Grand Benefactor" and "Grand Honorary Chair" at its annual fundraisers held at Trump's
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...
estate. Trump may have also earned more money on the event fees it received from the institute than the Trump Foundation paid to the institute in grants. Trump has directed at least $300,000 of grants of the Trump Foundation money to Dana-Farber since 2010.
Trump received highly visible praise for his generosity on his prime-time television show ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...
''. He frequently offered to make generous donations to his contestants' charities, but records show that he ultimately either directed the Trump Foundation to make a grant or had the show's network,
NBC Universal
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, make the donation.
Examples include:
* A 2008 episode where Trump told contestant and mixed-martial arts star
Tito Ortiz
Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz (; born January 23, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist and politician. He is currently signed to the Combate Americas promotion. Ortiz is best known for his stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UF ...
: "I think you're so incredible that—personally, out of my account—I'm going to give you $50,000 for
St. Jude's hildren's hospital" Ortiz's chosen charity and also a favorite named charity of Trump's son,
Eric
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
. Trump then had the Trump Foundation make a $50,000 grant to St. Jude Children's Hospital.
* In 2012 Trump promised at least six personal donations of $10,000 each to contestants' chosen charities during one episode of ''
Celebrity Apprentice
''The Celebrity Apprentice'' is an American television reality competition series. It was a variation of ''The Apprentice'' series, hosted by then real estate developer (later 45th president of the United States
The president of the Unite ...
''. In another episode of the same season, he pledged $10,000 to contestant
Aubrey O'Day
Aubrey Morgan O'Day (born February 11, 1984) is an American singer and reality television personality, best known for being a member of the girl group Danity Kane. Following discord among Danity Kane and with her mentor at the time, P. Diddy, O'D ...
's chosen charity, a gift "that moved
ontestant and comedienne Lisa Lampanelli to tears."
According to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''s review of tax filings, Trump directed all this money to be granted to the charities out of Trump Foundation funds.
* In 2013 Trump promised personal donations of $20,000 each to the charities of basketball star
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...
, singer
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, ''The Jacksons'', ...
, former
Playboy Playmate
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
Brande Roderick
Brande Nicole Roderick (born June 13, 1974) is an American model and actress known for her appearances in '' Baywatch'' and ''Playboy''. In April 2000, she was selected as Playmate of the Month and then became the Playmate of the Year in 2001. ...
, and actor
Gary Busey
Gary Busey (; born 1944) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics ...
during episodes of the ''Celebrity Apprentice.'' Trump then used Trump Foundation money to make the payments.
"Remember, Donald Trump is a very nice person, okay?" he told them. According to a ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reporter, who reviewed transcripts of the show, by 2013 "contestants had come to expect these gifts—and even to demand them when Trump didn't offer money on his own."
* A gift to
Starkey Hearing Foundation, a charity chosen by an actress
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Beth Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, author, and activist. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a ...
. Trump was credited with a personal donation of at least $14,000, but the donation came from the Trump Foundation.
Other alleged examples include:
* Trump using foundation money to pay the personal bills of a viewer of the TV show
'' Extra''. In 2009 he appeared on the show and promised he would pay a struggling viewer's domestic bills. "This is a bad time for a lot of people," Trump said as the contest was announced. Trump eventually paid the winner with Trump Foundation money.
A Trump representative later explained that the grant was legal because the winner qualified as an "indigent" individual under
Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is the domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 ...
section 4945(d)(3), a contention at least one tax expert has disputed.
* Trump being honored with a chair and plaque in his name at the
Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts after the Trump Foundation donated $10,000.
* Trump taking personal credit for a $25,000 grant from the Trump Foundation at a speech honoring slain journalist
James Foley in 2014. At the time, the ''
New Hampshire Union Leader
The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.''
Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...
'' published an article titled ''Trump leads tribute for slain journalist James Foley.'' Foley was posthumously awarded the 12th annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award, "given annually to New Hampshire organizations or residents who protect or exemplify the liberties listed in the First Amendment to the Constitution." Trump was the "featured speaker of the event."
* Trump receiving personal praise for a $100,000 Trump Foundation grant in 2016 to the
National September 11 Memorial Museum ahead of the 2016 New York State Republican Primary (above).
Making grants to other private foundations without fulfilling IRS "expenditure responsibility" rules
The Trump Foundation is responsible by law for ensuring that any grant it makes to another private foundation is used strictly for charitable purposes. To fulfill this
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
"expenditure responsibility" the foundation is required to attach "full and detailed" reports describing the use of the grant money to its IRS 990 tax return for each year a grant to a private foundation is made.
Trump Foundation tax returns show that it failed to do this for all twenty of the grants it made to private foundations during the period of 2005 through 2014. Such grants in this period, which total at least $488,500, could be subject to significant fines and penalties.
Receiving donation from Ukrainian oligarch during campaign for president
In 2015 Ukrainian
Victor Pinchuk
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list o ...
made a $150,000 donation to the Trump Foundation in return for Trump's appearance by video conference link at the Yalta European Strategy Conference. The appearance was broadcast on a large screen and lasted only twenty minutes, including delays caused by translation and by technical difficulties. Pinchuk is the son-in-law of former Ukrainian president
Lionid Kuchma. In 2018 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the office of
Special Counsel
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exist ...
Robert Mueller was investigating the donation as a possible illegal in-kind campaign contribution from a foreign national intended to curry favor with then-candidate Trump.
Legal actions and closure
Intended dissolution of the Trump Foundation
In September and October 2016 there were several legal actions and complaints filed against the Trump Foundation. The former head of the
Internal Revenue Service's Office of Exempt Organizations Division Marc Owens told ''The Washington Post'' regarding the various allegations against the foundation: "This is so bizarre, this laundry list of issues... It's the first time I've ever seen this, and I've been doing this for 25 years in the IRS, and 40 years total."
In late December 2016, one month before his inauguration, Trump announced that he would dissolve the Trump Foundation to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict with
isrole as President".
However, a spokesperson from the New York State attorney general's office told ''The New York Times'', the same month, that the foundation "cannot legally dissolve" until its current investigation is completed.
Investigation by New York State attorney general's office
Initial investigations and notice of violation
On September 13, 2016,
New York State attorney general
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
announced that his office was investigating the foundation "to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."
The office had previously filed charges—at that time awaiting trial—against the Trump Organization's
Trump University
Trump University (also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC) was an American company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. It was owned and operated by The Trump Organization. A sep ...
.
Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman, responded to the announcement by labeling Schneiderman a "partisan hack".
Schneiderman has endorsed Hillary Clinton and was identified as a member of her "New York leadership council" in October 2015.
On September 30, 2016, the attorney general's office issued a "Notice of Violation" to the Trump Foundation, ordering it to immediately stop all fundraising in New York and to file its registration and all required past audits within 15 days, or risk being "deemed to be a continuing fraud on the people of the State of New York".
[Steve Eder]
State Attorney General Orders Trump Foundation to Cease Raising Money in New York
, ''The New York Times'' (October 2, 2016). Under the law, the foundation may eventually be required to return all donations it had solicited since inception.
[Tom LoBianco]
NY AG orders Trump Foundation to cease fundraising
, CNN (October 2, 2016).
(republished by ''The New York Times'') (October 2, 2016). The notice said the foundation has not complied with New York law because it had failed to re-register in New York State as a "7A level charitable organization", as required for charities that solicit $25,000 or more a year from outside donors. The Trump Foundation had been registered in New York under the state's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law with a designation intended for self-funded
private foundations
A private foundation is a tax-exempt organization not relying on broad public support and generally claiming to serve humanitarian purposes. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion i ...
.
On October 17 a spokesperson for the attorney general's office confirmed that the Trump Foundation had agreed to cease solicitation of donations in New York State. The Trump Foundation was at the time granted an extension of time for filing its financial paperwork, including all past audits. The attorney general's office said the Trump Foundation also agreed to cooperate with their ongoing investigation. The attorney general's press secretary said Trump could not legally dissolve his foundation until the investigation is finished.
Admission of self-dealing
In 2016, while under investigation by the New York State attorney general's office), the foundation admitted on its IRS Form 990 for 2015 that it had, in previous years, engaged in
self-dealing
Self-dealing is the conduct of a trustee, attorney, corporate officer, or other fiduciary that consists of taking advantage of their position in a transaction and acting in their own interests rather than in the interests of the beneficiaries of ...
and had transferred "income or assets to a disqualified persons" (which could be Trump, a family member, or a Trump-owned business). The foundation did not provide specifics. Under tax law, the violations can lead to penalties, such as the imposition of excise taxes or repayment of the improperly spent monies.
New York State litigation against Trump Foundation and Trump family
On June 14, 2018, the new New York attorney general
Barbara Underwood
Barbara Dale Underwood (born August 16, 1944) is an American lawyer currently serving as the Solicitor General of New York. She was first appointed to the position in January 2007 by Andrew Cuomo, who was then serving as the state's Attorney Gen ...
filed a civil suit against the foundation, Trump himself, and Trump's adult children—
Ivanka,
Eric
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
and
Donald Jr.—alleging they had engaged in "extensive unlawful political conduct" and that Donald Trump had been using the foundation "as his personal checkbook" to, among other things, settle his personal legal debts and support his presidential campaign.
The suit sought $2.8million in restitution and the dissolution of the foundation. The suit noted that Trump himself made all decisions about disbursement of foundation funds and that the board of directors had not met for 18 years. Underwood's office also referred suspected Federal campaign and tax law violations to the
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...
and to the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
.
On August 30, 2018, Trump attorney
Alan Futerfas filed a
motion to dismiss
In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrativ ...
Underwood's suit, claiming it was without merit and was a result of "pervasive bias" by former New York attorney general
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
, who had supervised the investigation before resigning that May. On October 4, 2018, Attorney General Underwood filed a memorandum opposing the motion, instead of strengthening the charges against the Trump Foundation and now alleging, among other claims, that the full $2.8million of distributions resulting from the January 2016 Iowa fundraiser represented illegal campaign contributions that needed to be repaid.
The memorandum also stated that the foundation had engaged in "persistent illegality", adding "Trump used his control over the... Foundation for his benefit to advance his personal, business, and political interests in violation of federal and state law governing charities."
On October 25, 2018, Justice Saliann Scarpulla heard a hearing on the motion. Justice Scarpulla suggested that she would wait to issue a ruling on the motion until the
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
The Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court of the State of New York are the intermediate appellate courts in New York State.
There are four Appellate Divisions, one in each of the state's four Judicial Departments (e.g., the full title of the ...
issued a decision in a separate case (a
defamation suit brought by Summer Zervos against Trump) on the issue of whether a sitting U.S. president may be sued in state court at all. On November 23, 2018, Scarpulla denied Trump's motion to dismiss, affirming that a sitting U.S. president can face "a civil lawsuit in state court for actions not taken in his official capacity" and citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in ''
Clinton v. Jones
''Clinton v. Jones'', 520 U.S. 681 (1997), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation, in federal court, against him or her, for acts do ...
'' (1997).
On November 7, 2019, Scarpulla ordered Trump to pay a $2million settlement for misusing the foundation for his business and political purposes, directing the settlement money to be given to a handful of charities. The foundation characterized the payment to the charities as a "contribution," stating it was "pleased to donate an additional $2million" to "worthy organizations."
The attorney general had asked the court for an order dissolving the charity and imposing $2.8million in restitution and penalties. She had also made referrals to the
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...
(FEC) and the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
(IRS).
On June 18,
New York governor
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a ...
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
's office announced that the governor would refer the civil case to
New York's Department of Taxation and Finance if it is requested to do so by the attorney general's office.
Given the violations alleged in the civil case, some experts believe a tax investigation could lead to state criminal charges.
Dissolution of foundation
On December 18, 2018, Underwood announced that the foundation had agreed to shut down under court supervision and distribute its remaining assets to court-approved charities, although the attorney general's office would continue its investigations of and legal actions against the foundation and its directors.
Investigation by New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
Separately, in July 2018, the case was referred to the
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF) is the department of the New York state government responsible for taxation and revenue, including handling all tax forms and publications, and dispersing tax revenue to other agencie ...
.
In August 2018, the department issued a
subpoena
A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
to
Michael Cohen, formerly Trump's personal attorney, in connection with the case.
Office of the Special Counsel investigation
On April 9, 2018, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the office of
Special Counsel
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exist ...
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
, as part of its larger investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election, was investigating the Trump Foundation's donation of $150,000 by Ukrainian billionaire
Victor Pinchuk
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list o ...
in 2015.
The ''Times'' reported that Trump's personal attorney,
Michael Cohen, had solicited the donation from Pinchuk in return for Trump's appearance in a 20-minute video conference with Pinchuk and others in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
in September 2015, just a few months after Trump launched his
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
.
The investigation was part of a broader investigation into foreign influence into the campaign. Federal election law prohibits non-U.S. nationals from contributing to U.S. political campaigns.
US House Judiciary Committee investigations
On September 13, 2016, all fifteen Democrats on the
House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
, then in the minority, sent a letter to
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Loretta Lynch
Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American lawyer who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the Un ...
requesting that the
Justice Department
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
launch a criminal investigation of Trump in connection with his foundation's $25,000 grant to Pam Bondi's campaign. The letter specifically cited possible violations of two anti-
bribery
Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
laws.
On March 4, 2019, new House Judiciary Committee Chairman
Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Lewis Nadler (; born June 13, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who since 2013 has served as the U.S. representative for , which includes Manhattan's west side and parts of Brooklyn. A member of the Democratic Party, he is in ...
issued a
subpoena
A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
to the Trump Foundation for copies of a broad range of documents it had previously delivered to Robert Mueller's office or any other domestic law enforcement agency on or after November 8, 2016, the day of Trump's election. The request specifically focused on domestic emoluments and contact with Russia-related entities or people.
Other complaints
Also on September 13, 2016,
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 Founded ...
(CREW), a left-leaning watchdog group, filed a complaint with the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
citing evidence they argued would compel the agency to seek back taxes and penalties and revoke the foundation's tax-free status.
See also
*
Eric Trump Foundation
Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...
*
List of grants made by the Donald J. Trump Foundation
*
Slush fund
A slush fund is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitim ...
References
{{Trump businesses
1988 establishments in New York (state)
2018 disestablishments in New York (state)
Foundations based in the United States
Foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
Organizations established in 1988
Organizations disestablished in 2018
Charity scandals