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   XPost: alt.politics.trump   
   From: red288525@gmail.com   
      
   >The Trump Foundation was one big scam, according to the New   
   >York attorney general.   
   >   
   >I have some shocking news: An organization with “Trump” in   
   >its name has run into trouble with the law. Who could have   
   >imagined?   
   >   
   >On Thursday, the New York attorney general’s office filed a   
   >lawsuit targeting the Trump Foundation. The Post’s David A.   
   >Fahrenthold reports:   
   >   
   >    The New York attorney general filed suit against   
   >    President Trump and   
   >his three eldest children Thursday, alleging “persistently   
   >illegal conduct” at the president’s personal charity, saying   
   >Trump repeatedly misused the nonprofit organization — to pay   
   >off his businesses’ creditors, to decorate one of his golf   
   >clubs and to stage a multimillion-dollar giveaway at his   
   >2016 campaign events.   
   >   
   >    In the suit, filed Thursday morning, Attorney General   
   >    Barbara   
   >Underwood asked a state judge to dissolve the Donald J.   
   >Trump Foundation. She asked that its remaining $1 million in   
   >assets be distributed to other charities and that Trump be   
   >forced to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and   
   >penalties.   
   >   
   >    Underwood said that oversight of spending at Trump’s   
   >    foundation was so   
   >loose that its board of directors hadn’t met in 19 years,   
   >and its official treasurer wasn’t even aware that he was on   
   >the board.   
   >   
   >    Instead, she said, the foundation came to serve the   
   >    spending needs of   
   >Trump — and then, in 2016, the needs of his presidential   
   >campaign. She cited emails from Trump campaign staff   
   >members, directing which charities should receive gifts from   
   >the Trump Foundation, and in what amounts.   
   >   
   >Fahrenthold and other reporters have previously uncovered   
   >some of the facts that figure in the lawsuit, but there’s   
   >damning new information, too, related specifically to an   
   >event to raise money for veterans that Trump held before the   
   >Iowa caucuses. According to the suit, the foundation brought   
   >in $2.8 million at that event, then essentially turned it   
   >over to the campaign to decide how it should be disbursed.   
   >They have emails from Corey Lewandowski, then Trump’s   
   >campaign manager, directing where the money should be be   
   >donated. The suit charges that this amounted to an illegal   
   >in-kind contribution to the campaign.   
   >   
   >There are two levels of context one needs to understand this   
   >lawsuit. The first level is that much of what we’ve learned   
   >about the Trump Foundation suggests that it was basically a   
   >scam, a way for Trump to make shady contributions, pay his   
   >debts with other people’s money and do things such as buy a   
   >gigantic painting of himself.   
   >   
   >For instance, Trump had to pay a fine when it was discovered   
   >that the foundation made an illegal $25,000 contribution to   
   >a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam   
   >Bondi, who just happened to be deciding at the time whether   
   >to pursue a fraud investigation into Trump University, which   
   >she most agreeably decided not to do. Not only was the   
   >contribution itself illegal — charitable foundations aren’t   
   >allowed to donate to political groups — it was hidden when   
   >the foundation reported on its tax forms that the   
   >contribution had instead gone to a legitimate nonprofit in   
   >Kansas with a similar name, to which they had actually given   
   >no money. In other cases, the foundation was used to pay   
   >legal settlements for Trump himself.   
   >   
   >The second level of context is that, in all this, the Trump   
   >Foundation isn’t much different from everything else Trump   
   >did during his business career. The only reason nobody knew   
   >what the Trump Foundation really was before Trump ran for   
   >president was that no one had bothered to look. Once they   
   >did, it immediately became apparent that, while it might do   
   >something legitimate here or there, at its core, the   
   >foundation looks a lot like a grift.   
   >   
   >You might say the same about Trump’s entire business career.   
   >As I’ve argued before, Trump wasn’t just a guy who skated   
   >close to the line a time or two or broke a few rules. In   
   >fact, when you add up the questionable bankruptcies; the   
   >cons such as Trump University; the pyramid schemes; the   
   >contacts with mobsters; the exploitation of foreign workers;   
   >the Trump projects that have collapsed amid charges of   
   >double-dealing; the unusual interest Russian oligarchs have   
   >in using Trump properties as a vehicle for money laundering,   
   >and more, Donald Trump could well be the most corrupt major   
   >business figure in America. So why would anyone expect his   
   >foundation to be an above-board charity that does good work   
   >and would never run afoul of the law?   
   >   
   >If I had to predict, at this point, I would guess that   
   >President Trump and his kids will try to settle this suit by   
   >paying a small fine. Though he claims “I won’t settle this   
   >case!” that’s what he said about the Trump University fraud   
   >lawsuit too, and he ended up paying a $25 million settlement   
   >to his victims. So while the Trump Foundation may not send   
   >the president to the slammer, this lawsuit will likely end   
   >up telling us a lot about who he is and how he operates.   
   >   
   >   
   >https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-   
   line/wp/2018/06/14/   
   >the-trump-   
   >foundation-was-one-big-scam-according-to-the-new-york-   
   attorne   
   >y-general-   
   >what-a-shock/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a8ddb3401813   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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