New York’s attorney general has disclosed that his office is investigating Donald Trump’s charity to determine whether it has abided by state laws governing non-profits.
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POLITICO is reporting Attorney General Eric Schneiderman “has opened an inquiry into the Trump Foundation based on troubling transactions that have recently come to light”.
“We have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view”, Schneiderman told CNN’s “The Lead” programme on Tuesday, calling himself a “regulator of nonprofits in ny state”.
Schneiderman, who has been attorney general in NY since 2011, is a Democrat and Clinton supporter whom The Forward said is close to longtime liberal NY representative Gerald Nadler and is a likely candidate for governor in the future. “I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference”, Schneiderman said.
When asked about the NY investigation, Bondi’s office said it could not “answer questions about political contributions”, adding that there was no basis for any investigation into Trump University, because in 2013, the office had received only one consumer complaint.
The Washington Post this weekend reported that Trump hasn’t personally contributed to his foundation in years, and that many of its charity contributions to other groups were funded by other charity foundations.
Trump counters that he’s given money to “everybody”, including the Clinton family foundation, over the years. In two instances, the Trump Foundation paid for the winning bids at charitable auctions. In another instance, his wife, Melania, won an auction for a 6-foot portrait of her husband. It is the clerk’s responsibility to determine if such a check is drawn on the account of the foundation or from Trump’s personal checking account, Weisselberg explained. At the time, Bondi was reviewing allegations that Trump University swindled students into the false belief they were attending an accredited university. When Justice for All was contacted, they reported no such donation from Trump.
The announcement of an inquiry comes after reports that Trump donated $25,000 in 2013 to Republican Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was allegedly investigating the beleaguered Trump University, the for-profit college owned by Trump. Trump has said the donation was a paperwork error – a clerk mistook the name of Bondi’s group for a similarly named organization in Utah, though the donation itself was routed to Bondi.
Asked if he has also scrutinized the Clinton Foundation, he said, “Absolutely”. Such purchases are also against IRS rules for charities. Florida eventually did not join the Trump University case.
The fraud investigation never happened, although Mrs Bondi denies the decision was influenced by the donation she received.
Trump has accused Hillary Clinton and officials of her foundation of giving donors special access to the State Department.
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Trump announced June 16, 2015 he will run in the Republican presidential primary.
