The Washington Post has been regularly doing an excellent job of dissecting what is public about Mr. Trump’s foundation. Since we cannot see his 1040, we are taking his 990 apart, bit by bit, it seems. Smile. [And all of this ignores the fact that most of the charitable donations he claims to have made — by dollar amount — were, in fact, never made.]
What is known is highly troubling. First, since at least 2009, Mr. Trump hasn’t used any of his own money to fund the foundation — he simply repackages donations of others. That is unprecedented, for a major foundation — and an exceeedingly dangerous (i.e., bad) practice.
Second, it is thread-bare, and keeps nearly no reserves.
Third, as of today, the Wa Po is reporting that in at least four instances, Mr. Trump had his “charity” pay off his personal business obligations — usually coming in the form of settlement(s) of lawsuits.
A partner at the highly regarded Venable firm, in DC — as well as several other experts in tax exempt organization law — have weighed in on the record for the piece, calling his pattern of behaviour “shocking“.
Having represented a few 501(c)(3)s myself, I can attest that what the Wa Po describes is classic self-dealing — and is (in my opinion) a very clear violation of the US Tax Code.
It is just so immensely ironic that he was faulting the Clinton Foundation, as recently as last week. It looks for all the world as though he runs his as a… criminal enterprise. That is my opinion. And he is a public figure — but all of this nonsense is way over the line of lawful practice, again in my opinion.
Now you know.
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