Trump's Ultra-Shady 'Foundation' Is Dead
Pour one out for the Trump Foundation, President Donald Trump’s extremely sketchy “charitable” organization that seemed to be of no real benefit to anyone whose name wasn’t actually “Trump.” Time of death: December 18, 10:57 a.m.
That, at least, is when New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced that her office and the Trump Foundation had reached an agreement wherein the foundation would “dissolve under judicial supervision,” and all its remaining assets would be disseminated to various other recipient charities, subject to Underwood’s approval.
“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 press release on Tuesday. “This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”
The agreement comes less than a month after Judge Saliann Scarpulla blocked efforts by Trump Foundation lawyers to dismiss New York State’s case against the organization.
The lawsuit, filed this past June, alleges that the Trump Foundation served essentially as a piggy bank for the Trump family in which “a pattern of persistent illegal conduct” was carried out to “pay off his legal obligations, to promote Trump hotels and other businesses, and to purchase personal items.”
While the dissolution of the Foundation was the centerpiece of Underwood’s case against the Trumps (Eric, Ivanka, and Don Jr. are named in the suit alongside the president himself), she is still reportedly pursuing nearly $3 million in restitution, and wants to bar any of the family from sitting on any other charitable boards in New York—presumably to prevent the spread of their genetic inability to stop themselves from grifting.
The agreement, which was signed on Dec. 11, does not specify a final end date for the Trump Foundation. It does, however, require the foundation to provide a list of other nonprofits to which it will donate its remaining assets within the next 30 days.