New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, who recently replaced the disgraced former attorney general Eric Schneiderman, has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, his children, and the Trump Foundation.
The Trump family and their fraudulent foundation are accused of self-dealing in a manner that the Clinton Foundation never would have even dreamed of.
It would be fair to describe the Trump Foundation as a glorified slush fund but, more specifically, the Foundation is accused of using charitable donations to cover personal and company expenses. The state's lawsuit also contains proof that Trump allowed his 2016 campaign officials including his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to use the Foundation's money as they saw fit.
From the Washington Post:
Underwood declined to comment on the case beyond issuing a written statement. “As our investigation reveals, the Trump Foundation was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality,” Underwood said in the statement.
Underwood said she had sent letters to both the IRS and the Federal Election Commission, identifying what she called “possible violations” of tax law and federal campaign law by Trump’s foundation. [...]
“The Foundation’s directors failed to meet basic fiduciary duties and abdicated all responsibility for ensuring that the Foundation’s assets were used in compliance with the law,” Underwood wrote.
Underwood is asking the court to permanently dissolve the Trump Foundation and to ban Donald Trump from creating a New York-based nonprofit for at least 10 years. The lawsuit also calls for Trump's children Eric, Ivanka, and Don Jr. to be banned from nonprofits for at least one year.
Our investigation found that the Trump Foundation raised in excess of $2.8 million in a manner designed to influence the 2016 presidential election at the direction and under the control of senior leadership of the Trump presidential campaign.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
In violation of state and federal law, senior Trump campaign staff, including Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski, dictated the timing, amounts, and recipients of grants by the Foundation to non-profits. pic.twitter.com/7MnLbwDqlY
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
The Trump Foundation also entered into at least five self-dealing transactions that were unlawful because they benefitted Mr. Trump or businesses he controls.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
I try not to think about it too much because it's infuriating, but we should take a moment to recognize that a significant portion of our political and news media spent the closing months of the 2016 election trying to find fire at the Clinton Foundation where there was no smoke
The Trump Foundation fraud was right in front of them. I mean a lot of this isn't even news. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Trump Foundation in 2016, which actually prompted the investigation by the New York attorney general's office, but that did not stop our political press from hounding the Clintons like rabid ambulance chasers.