Trump Foundation funneled $100K in donations into revenue for Trump Organization: report

President Trump’s charity foundation funneled $100,000 in donations meant for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital into revenue for the Trump Organization by using his son’s charity, Forbes reported Tuesday.

For 10 years Eric Trump hosted an annual golf tournament that raised millions of dollars in donations for the hospital. According to the Forbes report, $100,000 of the donations was funneled through the Eric Trump Foundation back into Trump’s golf courses for expenses incurred during the tournaments, despite donors being told that all their money would be used for charity.

In addition, more than $500,000 of donors’ money over 10 years was re-donated to other charities, including some that were connected to Trump family members. At least four of those organizations also used Trump golf courses for charity tournaments.

{mosads}According to the report, President Trump himself gave the order for the Trump Organization to begin billing the Eric Trump Foundation for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If the report is true, the practices would violate both New York state law and federal law on self-dealing and misleading donors. To date, Eric Trump has raised more than $11 million for St. Jude’s hospital. 

In December, President Trump announced plans to dissolve his charitable foundation in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. But New York’s attorney general said that was impossible until a criminal probe of the charity was completed.

“The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, said in a statement to The Hill in December.