NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–November 22, 2016
Trump attempts to chip out of the rough
‘Tis the season for Trump to confess to everything he denied during the campaign in an effort to clean up his legal plate and get on with the business of making the government into part of his business.
President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has apparently admitted to the IRS that it violated a legal prohibition against “self-dealing,” which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses, or their families.
David Fahrenthold’s yeoman work in combing through the books of the Trump Foundation earned acclaim from readers, but drew little attention from publications beyond his home at the Washington Post. The Trump campaign called Fahrenthold “biased” and a “Trump-hater.” It now appears they could have also used the phrase “100% accurate.”
Among the many items turned up by Fahrenthold’s relentless digging were instances where Donald Trump had treated funds from his charity as if they were an auxiliary bank account. Trump purchased at least two massive self-portraits. He bought himself football souvenirs. He paid off his legal bills and he made political contributions — all out of foundation funds. It seemed like a clear violation. The form admitted that the Foundation had broken the rules in 2015. And …
Another line on the form asked if the Trump Foundation had engaged in any acts of self-dealing in prior years. The Trump Foundation checked “yes” again.
The few statements Trump had made about the instances of self-dealing were ridiculous.
In September, a Trump campaign spokesman rejected the idea that Trump had done anything wrong, by using his charity’s money to buy art for his bar. Instead, spokesman Boris Epshteyn said, sports bar was doing the charity a favor, by “storing” its art free of charge.
Tax experts said that this argument was unlikely to hold water.
“It’s hard to make an IRS auditor laugh,” Brett Kappel, a lawyer who advises nonprofit groups at the Akerman firm, told The Post then. “But this would do it.”
The self-dealing violations are thought to be a central feature of New York AG Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into the Trump Foundation. Filing these forms to the IRS appears to be an attempt to head off that investigation, fess up, and pay the fines.
The recent settlement of the Trump University case was given blink-and-you-missed-it treatment by the press. It’s likely this admission would garner even less attention, especially since the reporting on the matter has mostly been limited to a single source.
The Trump Foundation has existed since 1987. This appeared to be the first time that it had admitted committing such a violation.
The new documents also show some interesting donations to the foundation in 2015. For the first time since 2009, Trump appears to have added some of his own money to the pot, with a $566,370 from the Trump Corporation. And there we some other new sources.
In addition, the Trump Foundation reported a $150,000 gift from the foundation of Viktor Pinchuk, a powerful Ukrainian steel magnate. That was the first such gift from Pinchuk.
Pinchuk, who supports closer ties between Ukraine and western nations, had also pledged large donations to the foundation of Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. Those donations, pledged to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, raised questions about whether Clinton had conflicts of interest when she met with her family foundation’s donors.
For Trump these donations raise no such questions. We already know he has conflicts of interest.
Source: http://dailykos.com
