The Trump "charity" scam

[yankeedoodle]

Support the troops!

Money raised for veterans, in other words, was being used to help elect Trump.   

Trump Family Ran 'Persistently Illegal' Charity, New York A.G. Says in Blockbuster Lawsuit
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-used-his-charitable-foundation-like-a-personal-checkbook-lawsuit-alleges

President Donald Trump's personal foundation illegally acted as an extension of his 2016 presidential campaign, according to New York's chief law enforcement officer.

Barbara Underwood, the state's new attorney general, alleged a widespread campaign of misuse of charitable resources in the service of Trump's political efforts in a complaint filed in New York's supreme court on Thursday. Her office is now seeking $2.8 million in penalties, which Trump said on Wednesday he would refuse to pay.

The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Underwood alleges, "acted in a persistently illegal manner by repeatedly intervening in Mr. Trump's campaign for president in 2016 by, among other things, making expenditures during the first five months of 2016 that were intended to influence his election for president."

The coordination between the foundation and the campaign was blatant and explicit, according to documentation posted on the AG's website. In one instance, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski requested that a top foundation official give out grant money in Iowa in order to improve the campaign's prospects in that state's Republican caucus. Lewandowski even specified the date on which he wanted the grants rolled out—three days before Iowa Republicans went to the polls, he told a senior officer at the foundation.

When the Trump Foundation held a widely promoted veterans fundraiser in Des Moines around the same time, the Trump campaign "planned, organized, financed, and directed" the event, the AG alleges. Underwood's office noted that a number of campaign staffers—including Lewandowski, Brad Parscale, and the campaign's communications director Hope Hicks—were involved in the process of setting up the donation website and making arrangements for speakers at the event.

"The Fundraiser, which solicited donations from members of the public, including New York residents, reaped approximately $5.6 million in tax free donations," the suit reads. "Of that total, $2.823 million was contributed to the Foundation."

The suit goes on to note that the Trump Foundation took the money it held on to and spent it to benefit the Trump campaign, at the specific direction of senior campaign officials. Money raised for veterans, in other words, was being used to help elect Trump.