New York’s attorney general said he has opened an inquiry into the Donald Trump Foundation amid troubling media reports “to make sure it is complying with the laws governing charities”.
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The New York billionaire donated $25,000 to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s campaign in 2013, as her office was considering whether to open an investigation into fraud allegations against Trump University.
Following news of the investigation, Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, called Schneiderman “a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president”.
Cheung called Schneiderman’s comments “nothing more than another left-wing hit job created to distract” attention from Clinton’s recent missteps on the campaign trail.
A recent Scripps investigation found that the NY attorney general has the power to force the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative to publicly disclose the names of foreign governments and the millions they donate each year to the charities, but he’s not doing it.
In a CNN interview on Tuesday, Schneiderman said his office had now brought Trump’s charitable foundation under scrutiny.
“Diverting the media narrative so that it is again focused negatively on Donald Trump is likely meant to mitigate the damage being done to the Hillary campaign”, he said.
In a statement, Mr Trump’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks insisted the Democrats’ claims were “totally ridiculous and false”, describing the letter as “a politically motivated attempt to distract from all of Hillary Clinton’s issues”.
Trump has accused Hillary Clinton and officials of her foundation of giving donors special access to the State Department.
Schneiderman added, “We’ve had correspondence with them”.
The fraud investigation that Bondi had threatened over Trump University never happened, although Bondi denies the decision was influenced by the donation she received.
The House members wrote that the 2013 payment may have influenced Bondi’s decision not to have Florida participate in a lawsuit filed by several USA states against the now-defunct Trump University. Bondi personally solicited money from Trump, the Associated Press reported. Trump did, however, pay a $2,500 fine for violating IRS rules regarding political contributions by charitable organizations.
The AG also is looking into money from the foundation being used to buy a life-sized portrait of Trump and a football helmet signed by Tim Tebow. The inquiry will probe the charity’s compliance with NY state laws.
Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to Complex’s request for comment. Records show he has made $253,500 in political donations there since 1999, most of it going to Republican candidates, the state party or GOP committees.
Bondi had decided not to sue Trump University earlier in 2013.
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He made the purchase during a fundraiser auction at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
