The Donald J. Trump Foundation signed a stipulation agreeing to dissolve Tuesday, but a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General’s Office against the charity continues.
President Donald Trump had offered to dissolve the foundation in 2016, but the New York attorney general at the time, Eric Schneiderman, blocked the dissolution so his office could investigate, reported The Washington Post.
The Trump Foundation will divide up its remaining assets among other charities under judicial supervision, with approval resting with new state Attorney General Barbara Underwood, she announced in a press release Tuesday.
“Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,” Underwood said in a statement Tuesday. “This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.” (RELATED: A Lot Of News Happened In 2018. Here Are The Stories That Stuck With Republicans And Democrats)
Trump has denied that the foundation did anything wrong, reported WaPo. Trump Organization lawyer Alan Futerfas issued the following statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday:
Contrary to the NYAG’s misleading statement issued earlier today, the Foundation has been seeking to dissolve and distribute its remaining assets to worthwhile charitable causes since Donald J. Trump’s victory in the 2016 Presidential election. Unfortunately, the NYAG sought to prevent dissolution for almost two years, thereby depriving those most in need of nearly $1.7 million. Over the past decade, the Foundation is proud to have distributed approximately $19 million, including $8.25 million of the President’s personal money, to over 700 different charitable organizations with virtually zero expenses. The NYAG’s inaccurate statement of this morning is a further attempt to politicize this matter.
The lawsuit from Underwood’s office is still going on in Manhattan Supreme Court, reported CNN. It seeks $2.8 million in restitution plus penalties and “a bar on President Trump and his three eldest children from serving on the boards of other New York charities,” according to the press release.
Underwood announced the suit in June and alleged in a press release that Trump “used the Trump Foundation’s charitable assets to pay off his legal obligations, to promote Trump hotels and other businesses, and to purchase personal items.”
Underwood discussed her decision to sue the Trump Foundation with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour June 14.
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“This is politics at its very worst,” a Trump Foundation spokesperson told TheDCNF in June. “The Foundation has donated over $19 million to worthy charitable causes – more than it even received … The Foundation currently has $1.7 million remaining which the [New York Attorney General] has been holding hostage for political gain.”
The foundation has never had more than a few million dollars in the bank, peaking at $3.2 million in 2009, according to WaPo.
WaPo has alleged that Trump used the foundation’s funds to pay legal settlements for his private business, to make an illegal political donation and even to purchase art for a club he owns.
Underwood assumed office in May 2018 after Schneiderman stepped down following allegations of physical abuse from four women.
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