Watchdog wants investigation of Trump Foundation

A watchdog group is alleging that the Donald J. Trump Foundation did not disclose a contribution to a political organization associated with the Florida attorney general while her office was looking into joining a lawsuit regarding Trump University.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) charged in a complaint Monday that the foundation illegally gave $25,000 to And Justice for All, a group linked to Pam Bondi, who endorsed Trump earlier this month.

{mosads}The Trump Foundation is not supposed to engage in political activity, the complaint alleged.

In its tax forms, the foundation denied transferring money to And Justice for All.

The complaint asks the IRS to investigate whether the foundation violated federal law by not disclosing the contribution on its tax return.

“The rules are clear: a tax-exempt charitable foundation cannot support a political group,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.

“The apparent failure to tell the IRS about this political activity makes matters worse and is something we’ve seen too many organizations doing lately.”

The contribution was made in September 2013 as Bondi’s office was considering joining a lawsuit by the New York attorney general against Trump University, according to the complaint.

That lawsuit alleged that the university had scammed more than 5,000 people out of more than $40 million, according to The Miami Herald. Florida never joined the lawsuit. The newspaper reported that Bondi’s office never investigated some of the complaints regarding the university.

“The IRS needs to look into this,” CREW’s Bookbinder said.  

“It is a serious problem if charitable foundations are used to influence politics.”