XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, can.politics, alt.global-warming   
   XPost: alt.politics.trump, uk.politics.misc, alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: athinker@gopfags.net   
      
   As Donald Trump amps up attacks on the Clinton Foundation, Democrats are   
   pointing out that Trump himself has given to the nonprofit he now calls a   
   pay-to-play operation.   
      
   Recently released emails between Hillary Clinton’s aides when she was   
   secretary of state and officials at the Clinton Foundation have   
   demonstrated that some foundation donors did get access to Clinton, though   
   there’s no evidence of direct favors.   
      
   Addressing the topic on NBC’s Meet the Press, Barack Obama’s former   
   campaign manager David Plouffe noted the Clinton Foundation’s work on   
   HIV/AIDS and malaria and Trump’s own ties to the charity.   
      
   "The Clinton Foundation, I think it’s a universal agreement, has done   
   remarkable work around the world. I think Donald Trump himself contributed   
   $100,000 to the foundation," he said.   
      
   Plouffe is right that Trump gave at least $100,000 to the foundation, a   
   fact that Trump and his campaign readily admit. One caveat: It appears   
   that the money came through Trump’s own foundation, not directly from   
   Trump.   
      
   The Clinton Foundation lists Donald J. Trump as a contributor with a   
   cumulative lifetime donation amount between $100,001 to $250,000. It’s not   
   clear if Trump himself made a personal contribution, but tax forms show   
   that the Donald J. Trump Foundation (which Trump controls) donated   
   $100,000 to the foundation in 2009 and reserved a table at the Clinton   
   Foundation gala for $10,000 in 2010.   
      
   Trump’s daughter Ivanka is also listed as a donor who gave between $5,001   
   and $10,000 and her father-in-law, Charles Kushner, gave between $250,001   
   and $500,000.   
      
   Trump’s gift amount places him in the top 0.2 percent of the foundation’s   
   donors. Most of its 300,000 donors (85.5 percent) gave less than $250.   
      
   Breaking it down by dollar amount, however, Trump’s total contribution   
   isn’t that big. We estimated that the foundation has received at least   
   $800 million in donations, over 70 percent of which came from gifts of $1   
   million or more.   
      
   In 2009, the Trump Foundation gave $926,750 to some 40 organizations (page   
   18). The Clinton Foundation received one of the largest gifts that year,   
   matched or surpassed only by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation   
   ($100,000), the New York Presbyterian Hospital ($125,000) and the Police   
   Athletic League ($156,000).   
      
   Altogether, the Trump Foundation has donated $5.5 million to 298 charities   
   between 2009 and 2013 according to the nonprofit’s tax forms, Forbes   
   found. Trump did not make any personal contributions to his foundations   
   during this time. (Money for the Trump Foundation in these years came from   
   others and from investment income.)   
      
   Trump doesn’t deny that he donated to the Clinton Foundation that he now   
   calls a criminal enterprise.   
      
   During the first GOP primary debate in August 2015, Trump voluntarily   
   brought up his giving to the Clinton Foundation when asked about his   
   previous donations to Hillary Clinton.   
      
   "When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from   
   them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for   
   me," Trump said. "With Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding, and she   
   came to my wedding. You know why? She didn’t have a choice, because I   
   gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to   
   do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all   
   over the world."   
      
   For the record, the Clintons did attend Trump’s third wedding to Melania   
   Knauss, but that occurred in 2005, four years before the $100,000   
   donation.   
      
   A few months later, Trump gave pretty similar answers when he was asked to   
   explain the Forbes article on his charitable giving record in late   
   January.   
      
   "I did give to the Clinton Foundation. What I didn't know is they'd be   
   using it for private aircraft and things like that. The Clinton Foundation   
   was helping with Haiti and with lots of other things and I thought it was   
   going to do some good work. So, it didn't make any difference to me," he   
   said on Jan. 31’s Fox News Sunday. "Again, I was a businessman and it was   
   my obligation to get along with everybody, including the Clintons,   
   including Democrats and liberals and Republicans and conservatives."   
      
   Our ruling   
      
   Plouffe said, "Donald Trump himself gave $100,000 to the Clinton   
   Foundation."   
      
   Tax records show the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave $100,000 to the   
   Clinton Foundation in 2009, and spent an additional $10,000 for a table at   
   a Clinton Foundation gala the following year. The Clinton Foundation also   
   lists Donald J. Trump (as well his daughter Ivanka and Ivanka’s father-in-   
   law) as a contributor.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Rightists are spineless and obedient, void of critical thinking and reason   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)