{"id":32720,"date":"2018-06-15T12:33:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T19:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=32720"},"modified":"2018-06-15T12:33:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T19:33:14","slug":"trump-foundation-busted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/15\/trump-foundation-busted\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Foundation Busted!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0615trumpfoundation\"<\/p>\n

The New York State attorney general\u2019s 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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations<\/strong>, 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\u2019s extensive legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. Trump\u2019s 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\u2019s was often improperly used to settle legal claims against his various businesses, even spending $10,000 on a portrait of Mr. Trump<\/strong> that was hung at one of his golf clubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s campaign, email traffic showed, with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, directing its expenditures, even though such foundations are explicitly prohibited from political activities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s 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<\/a> to raise money for veterans, though he used the event to skewer his opponents and celebrate his own accomplishments… [emphasis added<\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <NY Times<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Lawrence O’Donnell<\/a> discussed the lawsuit with David Cay Johnston.<\/font><\/p>\n