Trump lawyer Alan Garten offered new details about the transaction to The Associated Press on Thursday, after a copy of the September 9, 2013, check was released by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The story – authored by David A. Fahrenthold, who has done extensive reporting on Trump’s charitable giving – said Trump once used foundation money to buy a 6-foot-tall painting of himself and a signed Tim Tebow helmet.
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Trump senior aide Jason Miller said in a statement that Schneiderman’s latest action looking into the Trump Foundation is another partisan attempt to tarnish the candidate’s reputation.
New York’s attorney general says he is investigating Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s foundation over suspected “impropriety”.
Watch Schneiderman’s full remarks on CNN.
Trump went so far as filing an ethics complaint, but it was later thrown out by the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, reported Newsday.
A report over the weekend revealed that Donald Trump has not contributed to his own charity since 2008, and that the foundation instead made donations to charities with contributions made to the Trump Foundation by other people.
“He sent Florida AG Pam Bondi thousands from his foundation, just as she was considering an investigation into his sham university”.
The Trump Foundation first came under scrutiny in March, when the Post uncovered a $25,000 donation it made to a political group supporting Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, ranking Judiciary Committee member John Conyers (D-Mich) and all 15 other Democrats on the committee asked the DOJ to investigate the contribution.
“We’ve inquired into it”, Schneiderman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead“. The wrongdoing in question involves a $25,000 donation made by the Trump Foundation to “And Justice For All” in September 2013.
The fraud investigation never happened, although Mrs Bondi denies the decision was influenced by the donation she received.
Schneiderman sued Trump University in 2013, seeking $40 million in restitution.
According to POLITICO, Trump responded by calling Schneiderman “hack” and a “lightweight”, claiming the attorney general “is trying to extort me with a civil lawsuit”.
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Trump was later fined $2,500 by the IRS for making a political contribution through a tax-exempt charity.
