The president is a crook who stole from his own charity

The president is a crook who stole from his own charity

by digby

 

Your president ladies and gentlemen:
.@realdonaldtrump has now paid the $2 million in damages he was assessed by a NY judge, for misusing money in a charity Trump controlled.
Extraordinary punishment for a sitting president.https://t.co/ayOkt8w31p
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) December 11, 2019

The payments bring an end to the life of the Trump Foundation, which Trump started in 1987 to give away proceeds from his book “the Art of the Deal.” It went nearly dormant during Trump’s lean years in the 1990s.

In the 2000s, Trump began to use the charity in ways that benefited himself or his businesses, according to the attorney general’s lawsuit. He used the charity’s cash to buy paintings of himself and sports memorabilia and to pay $258,000 in legal settlements for his for-profit clubs. Charity leaders are barred from using their nonprofits’ money for personal benefit. Trump also used the charity to boost political campaigns — first, Pamela Bondi’s Florida attorney general campaign, and then his own 2016 campaign. Trump gave away Trump Foundation checks onstage at rallies, despite strict rules barring nonprofit charities from participating in political campaigns.

 The New York attorney general’s suit drew heavily on reporting by The Washington Post during the 2016 election. Now, the foundation will be shuttered. The consequences of this case will linger for Trump. Under the terms of the settlement, he has agreed to special supervision if he ever returns to charity work in New York.
That's not all:
"The court's decision, together with the settlements we negotiated, are a major victory in our efforts to protect charitable assets and hold accountable those who would abuse charities for personal gain," James said in a statement. The state attorney general explained that "the Trump Foundation has shut down, funds that were illegally misused are being restored, the president will be subject to ongoing supervision by my office, and the Trump children had to undergo compulsory training to ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again."
Any other president would be destroyed by this. Yet the entire Republican party is in his thrall.


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