The Trump Charity Was as Corrupt as Everything Else About This President

This week's Trump charity story would have ended the career of most politicians. That it didn't may say as much about America as it does about the President. Is it that we have grown so cynical about human nature or do we just assume that everything Trump touches will be in some way corrupted?

The Trump Foundation was really just a conduit to funnel money to the President's campaign and his businesses. New York's Attorney General, Barbara Underwood, found a “shocking pattern of illegality” at the charity and brought suit. In light of the investigation and pending litigation, Trump has now agreed to close the charity and distribute its assets to worthy causes approved by the Attorney General.

The Guardian: "In a statement, Underwood said: “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. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr Trump’s business and political interests.”

The level of corruption at the Foundation is breathtaking.

Timothy L. O'Brien, Bloomberg Businessweek: As my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Francis Wilkinson has observed, the Trump Foundation’s single largest gift — $264,631 — was allotted toward renovating a fountain outside the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Trump owned the hotel. Underwood’s lawsuit also points out that Trump used foundation money to pay off legal obligations, promote his hotels and other businesses, and purchase goodies for himself. That list included a $100,000 payment to settle legal claims against Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort; a $158,000 payment to settle claims against the Trump National Golf Club from a 2008 lawsuit involving that course’s hole-in-one tournament; and a $10,000 payment at a charity auction to purchase a painting of Trump that was displayed at the Trump National Doral in Miami.

Quite simply, this is who our President is. This is his nature, his character. If you still back him, understand what you are supporting.

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