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Donald Trump has been hit by his latest scandal, and this time he’s dragged the rest of his wretched family along for the ride.
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Earlier this morning, it was revealed that New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) has filed a lawsuit against the crooked president, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump for violating state and federal laws.
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The AG’s office is pushing for the foundation to be completely dissolved and for New York to ban the foundation’s board of directors from serving on the board of any other charities in the state. The lawsuit also demands $2.8 million in restitution.
“This pattern of illegal conduct by the Foundation and its board members includes improper and extensive political activity, repeated and willful self-dealing transactions, and failure to follow basic fiduciary obligations or to implement event elementary corporate formalities required by law,” the official complaint reads.
According to the AG’s office, the foundation illegally aided Trump’s presidential campaign by misappropriating public funds to promote his candidacy. Over $2.8 million was raised to support the campaign, an operation that was overseen by senior members of the Trump campaign.
Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski played a key role in deciding the nature of the grants paid out by the foundation, including picking who would receive them.
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The Trump Foundation is also accused of engaging in five “self-dealing” incidents that personally benefitted Trump and his companies, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to help with assorted legal fees.
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Investigators have emails as well as written notes from the culprits detailing their crimes. One note, in particular, was written by Trump himself and shows him requesting $100,000 in foundation money to settle a lawsuit against Mar-a-Lago.
AG Underwood took to Twitter to offer an overview of the lawsuit, referring to the Trump Foundation as “little more than a checkbook” for payments for Trump. The degree of flagrant illegality she outlined is stunning in its scope, even for a family as notoriously underhanded as the Trumps.
We are suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors @realDonaldTrump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump for extensive and persistent violations of state and federal law. https://t.co/aP2ui0tOTo pic.twitter.com/geSMA3fx2x
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
Our investigation found that the Trump Foundation raised in excess of $2.8 million in a manner designed to influence the 2016 presidential election at the direction and under the control of senior leadership of the Trump presidential campaign.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
In violation of state and federal law, senior Trump campaign staff, including Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski, dictated the timing, amounts, and recipients of grants by the Foundation to non-profits. pic.twitter.com/7MnLbwDqlY
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
The Trump Foundation also entered into at least five self-dealing transactions that were unlawful because they benefitted Mr. Trump or businesses he controls.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
These include a $100K payment to settle legal claims against Mr. Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort, $158K to settle legal claims against Trump National Golf Club, and $10K to purchase a painting of Mr. Trump displayed at the Trump National Doral.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
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We are seeking restitution of $2.8 million plus penalties, and we have sent referral letters to the IRS and FEC for further investigation and legal action.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
In light of this misconduct and total lack of oversight, we are also suing to dissolve the Trump Foundation under court supervision and bar @realDonaldTrump and the other members of the Trump Foundation’s Board of Directors from serving on the board of any other New York charity.
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
You can read our petition here: https://t.co/1NPGPnSwiB pic.twitter.com/FtRZqPGm1f
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
The Trumps must be held accountable for their crimes. By the looks of, the AG has assembled a strong case, with mountains of hard evidence.
Under normal circumstances, a scandal as huge as this one would sink a presidency. As it is, this will dent Trump’s reelection chances amongst moderates but is sure to leave his rabid hardline fans unfazed. They’ve accepted their leader is an unapologetic crook. It’s up to the rest of us to do something.
