Once there was a magical charitable foundation. It was magical, because people could pay into it without anyone counting it as income, and money could come out of it for anything, anything, really anything at all. And it was charitable because … well, because it was, that’s why.
It was so magical that it could solve any problem.
So magical that it could even buy a shot at being president of the United States.
“It was a quiet donation that came with a simple cover letter,” Smith said. It read: “Great meeting with you and your wife in my office,” dated May 6, 2011. Enclosed was a check for $10,000 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
That check is one of at least several donations to suggest Trump used his private foundation, funded by outside donors, to launch and fuel his political ambitions. Such contributions, if they were made solely for Trump’s benefit, could violate federal self-dealing laws for private foundations.
Do you need to register to vote? Deadlines are coming up in several states. Click here to register, and pass it onto your friends and family to make sure they are registered, too.
If Donald Trump has even a fraction of the wealth he claims, there’s no reason why he had to play picayune games with his foundation. For Trump, that $10,000 check should be like someone who makes $50,000 a year shelling out eighty-three cents. But Trump didn’t open his own wallet, and he didn’t do this once—he did it over and over.
From 2011 through 2014, Trump harnessed his eponymous foundation to send at least $286,000 to influential conservative or policy groups, a RealClearPolitics review of the foundation’s tax filings found. 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.
Those donations paid for connections, turned Trump skeptics into friends, and bought Trump’s way onto the stage at important Republican events. Since Trump hasn’t made a donation to his foundation since 2008, he was using other people’s money to pay his way onto the political stage and lay the groundwork for his 2016 run.
The donations to groups that granted Trump plum speaking slots or otherwise promoted his political aspirations also might run afoul of self-dealing rules for private foundations, which prohibit a foundation’s leadership from using donor money for its own gain.
The New York attorney general’s investigation into the Trump Foundation has already resulted in a cease and desist order to prevent accepting new donations. But this is mainly related to the foundation having not filed the proper paperwork.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued a cease and desist order to the Trump Foundation, saying that because it “is not and was not registered with the Charities Bureau,” it “must immediately cease soliciting contributions or engaging in any other fundraising activities in New York.”
However, Schneiderman’s investigation already seems to be moving into the self-dealing aspect of Trump’s foundation, which includes paying for Trump portraits, football helmets, legal bills, and of course, political payoffs.
So Trump began his presidential run with the same illegal use of his “charity,” and news about that private charity may also contribute to Trump’s downfall. That seems fitting.