President Donald Trump paid $2 million to eight charities — $250 thousand to each charity — as part of a settlement in December 2019. In addition, he admitted he misused funds raised by the Donald J. Trump Foundation to promote his presidential bid and pay off business debts, the New York Times reported.
The Times attributed the above statement to New York State attorney general Letitia James whose office reached the settlement with Trump.
Trump used money from his charity for a $10 thousand dollar portrait of himself that he hung in one of his hotels.
We’ll get to that in a bit.
Under the settlement, the Trump Foundation liquidated its remaining assets and dispersed them to the following nonprofit organizations: the Army Emergency Relief, the Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals on Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, the United Negro College Fund, the United Way of the National Capital Area, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Times reported.
James released the following statement:
“Charities are not a means to an end, which is why these damages speak to the president’s abuse of power and represent a victory for not-for-profits that follow the law,” James said. “My office will continue to fight for accountability because no one is above the law – not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the president of the United States.”
Trump defended the Trump Organization and himself in a tweet.
The Trump Foundation has done great work and given away lots of money, both mine and others, to great charities over the years – with me taking NO fees, rent, salaries etc.”
This was not true.
Trump lied.
Again.
And what kind of selfish asswipe brags about giving money to charity “and taking NO fees, rents, salaries, etc”?
Trump then admitted as part of the settlement that he used the money intended for the charities to, among other things, buy a $10 thousand portrait of himself that he exhibited in one of the Florida hotels he owned.
He also admitted to spending the foundation’s money to pay expenses related to his pro-profit businesses, including his private golf clubs in Westchester County, N.Y., and at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. He also admitted that the foundation had given his presidential campaign money that he raised from a veterans’ fund-raising event in Iowa.
He admitted that the fund-raiser was a really campaign event and not a fund-raiser to benefit veterans, the New York Times reported.
There isn’t any question whether he did these things.
He admitted to them.
Let’s imagine a conversation that an administrator at the Children Aid Society, which addresses children in poverty in New York City, had with the children.
“Remember I told you about that nice Mr. Trump who said he would donate money so that you would have food and gifts on Christmas. He decided to buy a portrait of himself with that money and there’s nothing left for you. So you’ll be having a bowl of steam for your Christmas dinner and all you’re getting for Christmas are some phony diplomas from Trump University.”
“Merry Christmas from Donald Trump.”
The New York Times reported that the attorneys who represented Trump Foundation said that they had resolved the settlement.
“The legacy of the Trump Foundation,” the attorneys said, “is secure.”
Yes, it is.
