Top Finance Dem wants panel to investigate Trump Foundation

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is calling for the panel to conduct a bipartisan investigation that includes looking into the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after the New York attorney general filed a lawsuit last week seeking to dissolve the organization.

In a Wednesday letter to committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Wyden said he’s requesting the investigation “to determine whether current rules and IRS enforcement sufficiently protect charitable resources from self-dealing, partisan political activity, and other actions that are inconsistent with the laws governing charitable organizations.”

{mosads}New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) has alleged that the Trump Foundation improperly coordinated with President Trump’s 2016 campaign. The state office also accused the Foundation of engaging in self-dealing transactions, not approved by its board, that benefited Trump and his businesses.

The president has called the lawsuit “ridiculous.”

In his call for a committee probe, Wyden noted that the panel has a history of conducting bipartisan investigations into alleged abuses of tax laws governing nonprofits. Investigations in recent years have focused on topics ranging from how the IRS handled applications from conservative groups for tax-exempt status to conservation easement donations and universities with large endowments.

“Allegations that the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors committed ‘extensive and persistent violation of state and federal law’ deserve the same rigorous oversight by this committee as other abuses of charitable tax laws,” Wyden wrote. “Robust Congressional oversight is critical to ensuring taxpayers know that tax-deductible charitable dollars are going to deserving causes, rather than lining the pockets of organization insiders.”

Katie Niederee, a spokeswoman for Hatch, said the senator “appreciates Senator Wyden’s interest, and will review the request.”