Like so many other days, I’m writing about an investigation into the misdeeds of Donald Trump and his criminal clan. Unlike most days, this investigation has nothing to do with the Mueller probe or the federal government. New York AG, Barbara Underwood, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation.
The New York State attorney general’s office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.
The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump’s extensive legal challenges.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. Trump’s charity, which became a subject of scrutiny during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. While such foundations are supposed to be devoted to charitable activities, the petition asserts that Mr. Trump’s was often improperly used to settle legal claims against his various businesses, even spending $10,000 on a portrait of Mr. Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs.
The foundation was also used to curry political favor, the lawsuit asserts. During the 2016 race, the foundation became a virtual arm of Mr. Trump’s campaign, email traffic showed, with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, directing its expenditures, even though such foundations are explicitly prohibited from political activities.
The attorney general’s office is seeking the Trump Foundation to pay $2.8 million in restitution, the amount raised for the foundation at a 2016 Iowa political fund-raiser. At the time, Mr. Trump skipped a Republican debate and set up his own event to raise money for veterans, though he used the event to skewer his opponents and celebrate his own accomplishments… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Lawrence O’Donnell discussed the lawsuit with David Cay Johnston.
I agree. Even though the suit is civil, the Trumps are prime candidates for criminal prosecution arising from it, and even if Trump fires Mueller, this is NY State, not federal.
RESIST!!
VOTE BLUE!!
15 Responses to “Trump Foundation Busted!”
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GREAT news!!
Good to see States picking up the steam on going after this guy!!
btw…the hole is getting deeper and deeper
It certainly has nothing to do with Mueller’s investigation in any legal sense. But I can’t help wondering if it was timed to distract from Manafort getting locked up – I understand he is behind bars even as we speak (if so, that failed. People are talking of practivally nothing else.) I also wonder whether, if the Mueller investigation hadn’t existed, whether this suit would have been filed at all. Prosecutors are keenly conscious of the odds of getting convictions. The stuff coming out of theinvestigation, though unrelated, may well have increased the confidence of the State of New York as to the probability of getting convictions. Plural.
JD, this could not have been timed to detract. I was writing this one, when I heard the breaking news about Manafart. See Nameless’ comment. He understood it correctly.
Good, thing, because, as I said, it wouldn’t have worked. Apparently, from discussion this morning, it is Andrew Cuomo who has to make the call on State criminal prosecution. But, of course, the IRS has its own authority. I’m sure it will be watching. BTW Eric has his own foundation, which is still under investigation too.
I think Ivanka does too.
tRump is such a sleasewad, you could dig for years and not reach bottom.
Boy, does Freya say it ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I expect that Joanne’s point about prosecutorial confidence is also spot on.
Dumpy will mumblefudge and scream his wigs off, make all sorts of pronouncements of innocence, but here comes karma, baby!!
I have three things to say.
1) Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up!
2) Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up! Lock THEM up!
3) Throw away the key PERMANENTLY!!!
Addendum (OK, 5 things to say!) — With all the praise that Drumpf appeared to be piling onto Kim, it would not surprise me to see him “groom” Don Jr to take over the new “family business” . . . the White House. No amount of grooming would work! The entire family is incompetent and in my non medical opinion . . . NUTS!!!
To Quote Jackie Gleason “How sweet it is!”
That’s the true beauty of this lawsuit – it’s civil, so can proceed.
BUT they have asked the IRS and SDNY (Southern District of New York) to join in the investigation – which then would move it into the criminal realm!
Of course the question is whether a sitting president can be held to criminal counts. But by the time they get that far Trump will be out of office!
This is YUGE!!!
Excellent news. Let’s hope it’ll be one of many more to come, so many that Drumpf will go bust again just having to pay his legal fees.
I believe that the Trump crime family and all involved should also be charged under the RICO Act, as an ongoing criminal organization.
Thanks all! Hugs! Please see Nameless’ comment.
So, why haven’t they been arrested for fraud and other charges?
.
I think we’re entering the “Be patient, Grasshopper” state (at least for those old enough to remember David Carradine in the TV series “Kung Fu”)
“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.”