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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMSNBC: Trump Foundation starts to look like a slush fund
Source: MSNBC
09/20/16 12:35 PMUPDATED 09/20/16 01:03 PM
By Steve Benen
Just when it seemed the controversy surrounding the Donald J. Trump Foundation couldnt get any worse, the Washington Posts David Fahrenthold published new revelations this morning that, if true, suggest serious wrongdoing.
Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaires for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a review of legal documents.
This is hardly the first controversy surrounding Trumps charitable foundation, but it may be the most damaging for one straightforward reason: it doesnt require a lot of explanation. As Josh Barro put it, the summary fits in a sentence: Donald Trump took money other people gave his charity and used it to pay his businesses fines.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but whats being described here sounds an awful lot like a slush fund.
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Read more: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-foundation-starts-look-slush-fund
Related: Trump used $258,000 from his charity to settle legal problems (Washington Post)
tonyt53
(5,737 posts)madaboutharry
(40,219 posts)yet he cheats people, uses a slush fund to pay his debts, and pays off corruopt politicians to get what he wants. He is a loathsome pig.
catbyte
(34,442 posts)Completely ghastly & garish. Can't imagine what he'd do to the White House.
madaboutharry
(40,219 posts)Imitation is never the same.
SunSeeker
(51,672 posts)benld74
(9,909 posts)Guilded Lilly
(5,591 posts)"The obvious question, of course, is whether or not it was legal for Trump to use charitable money to pay off legal settlements from for-profit businesses. The Posts report said Trumps alleged practices may have violated U.S. tax law and gone against the moral conventions of philanthropy.
I represent 700 nonprofits a year, and Ive never encountered anything so brazen, said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, who advises charities at the Venable law firm in Washington. After The Post described the details of these Trump Foundation gifts, Tenenbaum described them as really shocking.
If hes using other peoples money run through his foundation to satisfy his personal obligations, then thats about as blatant an example of self-dealing [as] Ive seen in a while, Tenenbaum said.
For much of the political media, theres a sense that the Clinton Foundation is a real controversy, despite the fact that theres no evidence of actual wrongdoing. As it turns out, its her rival who has the real scandal."
We know ignoring the morality of philanthropy is no big deal to a man who has deplorable morals, but can someone with better understanding of the legalities explain that if this is true (and it would be right up his sleazy con-man alley) is it something that he could be prosecuted for NOW? Something that could sink his candidacy?
It won't stop supporters from backing him but could it legally damage him? Is there any precedent for something like this?
imanamerican63
(13,812 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)Gabi Hayes
(28,795 posts)for Cubs' first run as I type this.
gotta have some joy in life, right?
108 YEARS!!!!!
Gabi Hayes
(28,795 posts)I know I read it here, but I haven't seen this on TV. that's cause I pretty much quit watching, for obvious reasons
The way Donald J. Trump tells it, his first solo project as a real estate developer, the conversion of a faded railroad hotel on 42nd Street into the sleek, 30-story Grand Hyatt, was a triumph from the very beginning.
The hotel, Mr. Trump bragged in Trump: The Art of the Deal, his 1987 best seller, was a hit from the first day. Gross operating profits now exceed $30 million a year.
But that book, and numerous interviews over the years, make little mention of a crucial factor in getting the hotel built: an extraordinary 40-year tax break that has cost New York City $360 million to date in forgiven, or uncollected, taxes, with four years still to run, on a property that cost only $120 million to build in 1980.
The project set the pattern for Mr. Trumps New York career: He used his fathers, and, later, his own, extensive political connections, and relied on a huge amount of assistance from the government and taxpayers in the form of tax breaks, grants and incentives to benefit the 15 buildings at the core of his Manhattan real estate empire.
Since then, Mr. Trump has reaped at least $885 million in tax breaks, grants and other subsidies for luxury apartments, hotels and office buildings in New York, according to city tax, housing and finance records. The subsidies helped him lower his own costs and sell apartments at higher prices because of their reduced taxes.
how is THIS not the story of the campaign so far? is it because this is SOP for realty moguls, to the point that it wouldn't be news, except for the fact that this conman, mobbed up bully is running for el presidente?
ffr
(22,671 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 21, 2016, 01:29 AM - Edit history (1)
only a couple days late. Must be a slow news day.
Hillary didn't cough....
rurallib
(62,445 posts)nothing to see here.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Blue Idaho
(5,057 posts)$50,000 donation to the Trump Foundation? Film at eleven...