Trump’s third term

[aubiefifty 18,210]

13 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

Not no, but hell no. No offense.

well grumps i never knew you used an alter here.............shoot save your typing and neg me baby.

[homersapien 12,219]

7 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

well grumps i never knew you used an alter here.............shoot save your typing and neg me baby.

And the forum idiot, no less! 

[AUFAN78 4,156]

4 hours ago, homersapien said:

And the forum idiot, no less! 

Homes,

Hug Maxine, your IQ equivalent, you blind fool and may God bless you as you continue to rot in a quagmire of stench. 

Your pal 78.

[Grumps 3,706]

On 12/16/2019 at 4:00 PM, aubiefifty said:

grumps i wish you would be a speaker at my funeral. i need you bad lol. to call trump flawed is more than generous. the only things you guys appear to admit to is the things that cannot be refuted like his tweets or running his mouth but when it comes to more serious matters you would seem to give him a pass. christians do not take the name of god at public rallies which he is till doing or attack 16  year old girls who only want to try and make the world a better place. the man stole from a VA charity for goodness sake. that is fact. but oh no he would never try to win an election by breaking the law. i just do not know how much plainer i can be. to me it is one or two things or both. i know a ton of white folks that are scared you know whatless of folks of color getting into office. or somehow the right has been brainwashed into thinking trump is a less evil than libs. i would love to be wrong but i just do not see how. every single reputable source in this country has already informed us that russia has a huge campaign of misinformation out there and sadly people believe it. notice the repubs have all com out saying ukraine is the one interfering in the election instead of russia which is a complete lie. does tha make any sense grumps?

He is flawed. I can say a lot of worse stuff, but it all means the same thing. Judging Trump's heart is above my pay grade, but I will say that I don't see Trump's life as bearing much fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control). That is how I try to examine my own life as to whether I am living like Christ. I expect Russia and many other countries to try to affect the 2020 election just like they did the 2016 and 2012 and 2008 elections and like the U.S. does in many elections in other countries. I am not sure what your main point is, but I agree with you that Trump is a scumbag. But I still can't tell why he should be removed from office.

By the way, great day recruiting!!!

[aubiefifty 18,210]

13 hours ago, Grumps said:

He is flawed. I can say a lot of worse stuff, but it all means the same thing. Judging Trump's heart is above my pay grade, but I will say that I don't see Trump's life as bearing much fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control). That is how I try to examine my own life as to whether I am living like Christ. I expect Russia and many other countries to try to affect the 2020 election just like they did the 2016 and 2012 and 2008 elections and like the U.S. does in many elections in other countries. I am not sure what your main point is, but I agree with you that Trump is a scumbag. But I still can't tell why he should be removed from office.

By the way, great day recruiting!!!

i have a lot of respect for you grumps. i would never intentionally disrespect you and i just wanted you to know that. as little as i know yu that is important to me that you understand this. everyone know i am a weird cat. my real father turned his back on me. my mom  married a cat with a fat paycheck to make sure my sister and i did not go hungry. he beat me like a dog and i learned early if my mom had to be gone for a few hours i was going to take an extreme ass whuppin to includ belt marks on my back and once on my face. he molested my sister many times and destroyed her life. she never broke down and told us until she hit her early fifties. she turned to pills and alcohol which ruined most of her life.she would get drunk and call in the middle of the night raging against the family until i quit talking to her. it never dawned on me she was hurting. after everything came to light she died from breast cancer killed her. we got to enjoy her for maybe a yea and a half. look i know this mess is personal but i felt the need to testify if you will. i am damaged good and hope one day to be whole again. people have bad or troubled lives but it does not excuse bad behavior in him just like it does not excuse mine either. he is not even trying to be decent. he bullies little girls for gods sake. he is not presidential and i believe in my heart he is unfit. six of his closest advisers are in the pen. trouble AND crime follow him like a shadow. and then we have evangelicals claiming he is the chosen one while at the same time we have local churches basically preaching libs are evil. did you know barr and rudy both have kids in the white house drawing 90 grand a year for nothing? as for the impeachment ask yourself why donald and rudy basically did an end around the fed government. and the two cats rudy has been involved with are both known criminals. why is it so hard to see this? and before you call or think me a hopeless lib i would vote for dennis kutech for pres in a new york minute and last time i checked he was a republican. i am not judt down on trump because he is on the right. i dislike trump because i see through him and he is so reckless in his many statements he is doing great harm to this country and differing branches of people who serve. my point is i have had some horrible stuff thrown at me and i doubt he has ever been through near as much. so to maybe give him a pass because of what he might have gone through just does not work for me. and in my haste if i  misinterpreted anything i apologize beforehand.

 

 

[aubiefifty 18,210]

13 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

Homes,

Hug Maxine, your IQ equivalent, you blind fool and may God bless you as you continue to rot in a quagmire of stench. 

Your pal 78.

you are not using this forum to make a political point you are using it to bellittle and bash folks that disagree with you. the more you can make fun of them i assume is the more you feel good about yourself. making fun of people that honestly care about this country while serving your master trump speaks volumes to me. hey maybe instead of trying to entertain the folks on the politics boards by ridiculing folks you can come up to a real counterpoint to prove homies position wrong. name calling does not prove squat.

[Mikey 16,781]

On 12/14/2019 at 9:29 AM, homersapien said:

Was Mitch "just kidding"?

As McConnell said:

Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.

McConnell also said:

We’ll be working through this process ... in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people representing the president in the well of the Senate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/13/mcconnells-awful-hannity-interview-shows-power-fox-news-disinformation/

This is as it should be. The impeachment proceedings in The House were nothing but a partisan sham. When received by the Senate, it should get all the courtesy that such a sham deserves. That's zero.

I think the question the Senate Republican leaders and the Administration need to answer is: "Do we immediately call for a vote and flush this stupid thing down into the sewer where it belongs, or......do we hold a trial, subpoena all the democrat players, Hunter Biden and other sons of the dumbocrats and drag that party's humiliation out until mid-summer? This will be interesting, and I hope Trump's advisors make the correct call because I can't quite decide which of the two above courses of action should be taken.

 

[aubiefifty 18,210]

17 minutes ago, Mikey said:

This is as it should be. The impeachment proceedings in The House were nothing but a partisan sham. When received by the Senate, it should get all the courtesy that such a sham deserves. That's zero.

I think the question the Senate Republican leaders and the Administration need to answer is: "Do we immediately call for a vote and flush this stupid thing down into the sewer where it belongs, or......do we hold a trial, subpoena all the democrat players, Hunter Biden and other sons of the dumbocrats and drag that party's humiliation out until mid-summer? This will be interesting, and I hope Trump's advisors make the correct call because I can't quite decide which of the two above courses of action should be taken.

 

explain this mikey. if he would steal from dying kids you think he is not guilty of using his office to stack the deck in a supposed free election? you folks kill me.

[homersapien 12,219]

16 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

Homes,

Hug Maxine, your IQ equivalent, you blind fool and may God bless you as you continue to rot in a quagmire of stench. 

Your pal 78.

What is this weird obsession you have with Maxine Waters? 

I've never even mentioned her until this particular post.  It's just another way you continue to make a fool of yourself.

 

 

[AUFAN78 4,156]

7 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

you are not using this forum to make a political point you are using it to bellittle and bash folks that disagree with you. the more you can make fun of them i assume is the more you feel good about yourself. making fun of people that honestly care about this country while serving your master trump speaks volumes to me. hey maybe instead of trying to entertain the folks on the politics boards by ridiculing folks you can come up to a real counterpoint to prove homies position wrong. name calling does not prove squat.

You are taking this way too seriously. I laugh with homes, at homes and at myself. This is a forum of comedic enjoyment. Lighten up Francis. It's meaningless. Enjoy it!

[kevon67 2,368]

On 12/13/2019 at 12:01 PM, TitanTiger said:

God, I hope he was teasing us.  Otherwise he's an abject moron.  Or just a liar parading around in Christian garb.  Liar is the more likely pick.

Wow.

[aubiefifty 18,210]

On 12/17/2019 at 5:11 PM, AUFAN78 said:

Not no, but hell no. No offense.

oh bull**** dude quit deflecting. other people seem to understand me. that is your go to with me when you got nothing to say. try harder.....

[AUFAN78 4,156]

I understand you. Merry Christmas!

[aubiefifty 18,210]

46 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

You are taking this way too seriously. I laugh with homes, at homes and at myself. This is a forum of comedic enjoyment. Lighten up Francis. It's meaningless. Enjoy it!

if homes says you are telling the truth i will. and yes i agree with homes. but i will go further.......you want to bang maxine. just admit it.....

[jj3jordan 2,171]

8 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

explain this mikey. if he would steal from dying kids you think he is not guilty of using his office to stack the deck in a supposed free election? you folks kill me.

BTW fifty, even Snopes scored this claim as FALSE.

[AUFAN78 4,156]

46 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

you want to bang maxine. just admit it.....

You're getting there. LOL. Besides, I married Miss America!

[TitanTiger 21,224]

1 hour ago, kevon67 said:

Wow.

He stated he thinks Trump has a case for a third term.  That is complete hogwash and everyone with more than 3 working brain cells knows it..  There are only really a couple of options here:  Either he's an idiot who really believes what he says, or he's a liar.  Is there some other option I'm missing?

[aubiefifty 18,210]

15 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

You're getting there. LOL. Besides, I married Miss America!

well then come smoke one and bring the wifes sister  grins.does she have a purple cowboy hat like maxine?

[aubiefifty 18,210]

15 hours ago, jj3jordan said:

BTW fifty, even Snopes scored this claim as FALSE.

you better check again leroy it was all over the news. it IS true and a judge ruled they cannot ever do a charity again. but you believe what ya want but you would be wrong as usual. and beside the tele it reported on yahoo news and i believe rolling stone as well.............

[aubiefifty 18,210]

15 hours ago, jj3jordan said:

BTW fifty, even Snopes scored this claim as FALSE.

Donald Trump's charity has been banned from operating after breaking New York state law

Max de Haldevang

2-3 minutes

---

Update: Shortly after publication, Quartz received the following statement from the Trump campaign: “While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind [New York Attorney General] Schneiderman’s investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation.  Because this is an ongoing legal matter, the Trump Foundation will not comment further at this time.” 

The Donald J. Trump Foundation hasn’t been short of controversy in recent weeks. Just a handful of the allegations surrounding it are that the Republican presidential nominee has used the charity’s funds to spend:

• A quarter of a million dollars settling his own lawsuits
• $20,000 on a portrait of himself
• $12,000 on a helmet signed by football player Tim Tebow
• Oddly, to donate over $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation

Now, the New York attorney general’s charities bureau chief, James Sheehan, says the foundation has been violating state law, and has stopped it from fundraising in New York at all. Trump previously used the foundation as a small family charity run with his own funds but, according to the Post, he stopped donating his own money to it at all after 2008 and has ramped up its quest for donations this year.

In a letter sent to the foundation from Friday, that was released this morning, Sheehan said Trump’s foundation had failed to register with the charities bureau and that if it keeps soliciting money from donors, it will be deemed “a continuing fraud upon the people of the state of New York.” Trump has, notably, previously called the Clinton foundation a “vast criminal enterprise.”

The Trump Foundation now has 15 days to submit various paperwork and financial reports to the Charities Bureau. Trump Foundation fundraising website www.donaldtrumpforvets.com seemed to no longer be receiving donations on Monday afternoon.

[aubiefifty 18,210]

15 hours ago, jj3jordan said:

BTW fifty, even Snopes scored this claim as FALSE.

smh.com.au

 

Donald Trump's charity ordered to stop fundraising in New York state

 

4-5 minutes

---

 

Washington: New York's attorney general ordered Donald Trump's charitable foundation to immediately stop fundraising in the state, saying the Trump Foundation was breaking a law that requires charities to register with the state.

"The failure immediately to discontinue solicitation and to file information and reports ... with the Charities Bureau shall be deemed to be a continuing fraud upon the people of the state of New York," according to a letter dated on Friday that the attorney general's office posted online.

The New York attorney general has served the Trump Foundation with a cease and desist order, requiring it to stop fundraising in New York, alleging it is not properly registered in the state.

The "notice of violation," issued by the office of New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, followed a report in The Washington Post that Trump's charity had been soliciting donations without being properly registered.

The cease-and-desist order could undercut Trump's efforts to make the Clinton Foundation, the family charity of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a central line of attack in his presidential campaign against her.

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.Credit:John Locher

Trump has sought to paint the Clinton family charity as a "pay-to-play" operation under which the former secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, rewarded big donors to the foundation with access.

The scrutiny on the Trump Foundation came as Trump was dealing with a torrent of bad news, including his shaky debate performance against Clinton on September 26 and the release by the New York Times of tax records that showed Trump taking an almost $US1 billion loss in 1995 that may have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

In its series of stories on the Trump Foundation, the Post reported that Trump may have violated US Internal Revenue Service rules against "self-dealing" by using foundation money to purchase two portraits of himself, which were then hung at Trump's private golf clubs in New York and Florida.

The newspaper also said that Trump may have improperly used the foundation to settle legal disputes.

 

New York State Attorney-General Eric Schneiderman has been investigating the foundation. His office said the foundation could not be wound up until proceedings against it had concluded.Credit:AP

In response to the Post's reporting, Schneiderman's office launched an investigation into the Trump Foundation.

The Trump campaign, which has previously accused Schneiderman, a Democrat, of partisan motives, said in a statement that the charity would cooperate with the investigation.

 

Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.Credit:Damon Winter/The New York Times

"While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind AG Schneiderman's investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation," said Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks.

"Because this is an ongoing legal matter, the Trump Foundation will not comment further at this time," she added.

The New York Attorney General's Office is the sole regulator of charities in the state. A spokesman for the office said it is not unusual for the regulator to send notices to charities whose filings are overdue or incomplete, but a cease-and-desist letter is more serious.

While letters such as the one the Trump Foundation received are not judgments of wrongdoing, they are sent only after the office gets "a clear indication of wrongdoing," the spokesman said.

Related Article

 

Trump established the charitable foundation in 1988, but it runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates money to other nonprofit groups. Once it started soliciting money from other donors beyond the Trump family, it was required by New York law to register with the state.

Reuters

[aubiefifty 18,210]

15 hours ago, jj3jordan said:

BTW fifty, even Snopes scored this claim as FALSE.

usatoday.com

 

Trump profited from kids cancer charity, report says

 

3-4 minutes

---

•  

The Trump Organization took in healthy profits in recent years for hosting a charity golf event to benefit children's cancer research, despite claiming the use of the course had been donated Forbes reported Tuesday. 

Since 2007, President Trump's son Eric Trump has held an annual charity golf event at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., to raise money for the Eric Trump Foundation on behalf of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Forbes reported. To date, Eric Trump has raised more than $11 million — including $2.9 million last year — for the hospital's research, most of it through the golf tournaments, according to Forbes.

The costs for the tournaments averaged $50,000 during the first four years, which is about what other charities pay for events at Trump courses. But the expenses quickly began to rise, reaching $322,000 by 2015, Forbes reported, citing IRS filings.

If accurate, these figures are hard to reconcile with Eric Trump's claims that the charity is able to use the course for free and that many other expenses are donated. "We get to use our assets 100% free of charge," the president's son told Forbes.

"In reviewing filings from the Eric Trump Foundation and other charities, it's clear that the course wasn't free — that the Trump Organization received payments for its use, part of more than $1.2 million that has no documented recipients past the Trump Organization," Forbes reported. "Golf charity experts say the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament."

Read more: 

Eric Trump: 'Nepotism is kind of a factor of life'

Trump condos worth $250 million pose potential conflict

In addition, more than $500,000 in donations were given to other charities, "many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests, including at least four groups that subsequently paid to hold golf tournaments at Trump courses," the magazine reported.

According to Forbes, the spike in costs for the tournament started in 2011 when Donald Trump insisted the charity begin paying the Trump Organization for the events.

Ian Gillule, who worked as a membership and marketing director at the Westchester course, told Forbes that Donald Trump was not happy with the expenses the charity wasn't being billed for.

"Mr. Trump had a cow," Forbes quoted Gillule as saying. "He flipped. He was like, 'We're donating all of this stuff, and there's no paper trail? No credit?' And he went nuts. He said, 'I don't care if it's my son or not — everybody gets billed.'"

The Donald J. Trump Foundation gave $100,000 to the Eric Trump Foundation to help offset the increase in costs, Gillule told Forbes. That means donors to the Donald J. Trump Foundation — the Trump family had not given money to that foundation for several years — saw $100,000 of their donations pass on as revenue to the Trump Organization by way of charges to the Eric Trump Foundation.

Eric Trump announced he would stop fundraising in December and is now acting as co-head of the Trump Organization during his father's presidency. The Eric Trump Foundation changed its name to Curetivity and plans to continue to hold charity golf events for St. Jude, Forbes reported.       

 

need more? let me know before i close the window.     

[aubiefifty 18,210]

snopes.com

 

Did New York Reprimand Trump Family for 'Stealing from a Children's Cancer Charity'?

 

8-10 minutes

---

In late October 2019, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of social media posts that claimed members of the family of U.S. President Donald Trump had been barred from operating charities in New York state, after they were found to have “stolen” from a children’s cancer non-profit. 

The running of Trump family-related businesses and charities has been the subject of intense scrutiny, and even legal action, for several years. However, some of the allegations got a new lease on life in October 2019 after widespread sharing of one tweet, which read:

“Never Forget. The Trump family was disallowed from operating ANY charity in the State of New York because they stole from a kids cancer charity. A kids cancer charity. A kids cancer charity.”

Never Forget. The Trump family was disallowed from operating ANY charity in the State of New York because they stole from a kids cancer charity. A kids cancer charity. A kids cancer charity. https://t.co/AwwbgWYDzB

— Bruno Amato (@BrunoAmato_1) October 5, 2019

Those claims were further promulgated a few days later, when a screenshot of Bruno Amato’s tweet was posted to Facebook by a user who goes by the name Donald Shirley:

Were Trump family members banned from running charities in New York?

In June 2018, then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued the president, his son Eric and daughter, Ivanka, along with the Donald J. Trump Foundation charity. Underwood wrote that:

“For more than a decade, the Donald J. Trump Foundation has operated in persistent violation of state and federal law governing New York State charities. This pattern of illegal conduct by the Foundation and its board members includes improper and extensive political activity, repeated and willful self-dealing transactions, and failure to follow basic fiduciary obligations or to implement even elementary corporate formalities required by law.”

As a result, Underwood asked the New York State Supreme Court to “dissolve the Foundation for its persistently illegal conduct, enjoin its board members from future service as a director of any not-for-profit authorized by New York law, to obtain restitution and penalties, and to direct the Foundation to cooperate with the Attorney General in the lawful distribution of its remaining assets to qualified charitable entities.”

Specifically, the attorney general asked the court to bar the president from running any New York-based charities for 10 years, and the other directors for one year. 

In December 2018, the attorney general and the defendants reached an agreement to dissolve the Trump Foundation and distribute its assets to a list of agreed charities. However, that agreement did not include Underwood’s request that President Trump, along with Eric and Ivanka, be barred from operating a New York-based non-profit organization in the future, for varying periods of time. 

In January 2019, Letitia James took over as New York attorney general and continued the state’s case against the Trumps. On Nov. 7, the state’s Supreme Court published a final resolution of the case, one which did not bar either President Trump or his children Eric and Ivanka, from running charities in the state of New York.

However, President Trump was forced to agree to certain stipulations involving governance, leadership structure and record-keeping, in the event that he wishes to become a non-profit director or board member within the state, in future. As part of the final settlement, Eric and Ivanka Trump were required to undergo (and have already undergone) “an in-person, interactive board training session pertaining to charitable organizations and the fiduciary responsibilities of those organizations’ directors and officers.”

The final resolution of the case, published on Nov. 7, made it clear that the New York Supreme Court had not barred members of the Trump family from operating or running charities within the state, and so this element of the claim contained in Amato’s viral tweet was false. However, it should be emphasized that at the time Amato posted his tweet (Oct. 5), that final resolution had not yet been published, and it was released only after this fact check was published.

When Amato made his claims, a realistic possibility still existed that the court might indeed accept the Attorney General’s request to bar the family members outright from running charities in the state, for various time periods. On that basis, we originally issued a rating of “Mostly False.” However, the case was subsequently resolved without those outright bans being implemented, and therefore we have change the rating to “False.”

Did Trump family members steal from a children’s cancer charity?

The allegations involving members of the Trump family and a children’s cancer charity are separate from the New York lawsuit against the Trump Foundation that sought to bar some of the family from running charities in that state.

Amato’s viral tweet inappropriately conflated the two sets of allegations by claiming that the charity ban (which was requested by the New York attorney general, but not granted by the court) was the result of Trump family members “stealing” from a children’s charity.

Investigations by both the Associated Press in 2016 and Forbes in 2017 found that the Eric Trump Foundation had misled donors and mismanaged funds, funneling money into Trump-owned businesses or other charities linked to the Trump empire. 

The Associated Press, for example, wrote that:

“A charity operated by one of Donald Trump’s sons flouts philanthropic standards by financially benefiting charities connected to the Trump family and members of the charity’s board, an Associated Press investigation shows. The AP found that Eric Trump has exaggerated the size of his foundation and the donations it receives. At the same time, the charity’s payments for services or donations to other groups repeatedly went to one of Donald Trump’s private golf clubs and to charities linked to the Trumps by corporate, family or philanthropic relationships …”

Among other claims, the Associated Press alleged that:

— The Eric Trump Foundation failed to report multiple conflicts of interest by supposedly independent board members who work for The Trump Organization or Eric Trump’s winery, as required by the IRS.

— Based on its revenue and giving, the Eric Trump Foundation is a small-to-medium-sized charity. Eric Trump has repeatedly overstated its size. In 2015, for example, he said his group was “one of the largest foundations anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world.” Told of the claim, Associate Dean Patrick Rooney at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy said, “That’s just silly.”

— Though public charity boards are supposed to represent the public, Eric Trump has loaded his board with friends, relatives and Trump employees. They include two Trump company executives who served as senior presidential campaign aides: former Westchester golf club manager Dan Scavino and special Trump counsel Michael D. Cohen. The charity’s executive director, Paige Scardigli, was a close college friend of Eric Trump at Georgetown University.

The 2017 Forbes article, which was included in Amato’s widely shared tweet as a source, made similar claims about the operations of the Eric Trump Foundation. Those allegations haven’t been tested in court and have not resulted in any legal action or prosecution.

It should also be noted that nobody involved is accused of “stealing,” as such, with that word being understood in the conventional sense of meaning theft or embezzlement of funds. What is alleged is that the foundation engaged in misleading practices and that it inappropriately used donated funds to pay Trump businesses — practices that could be regarded as “self-dealing,” rather than theft or embezzlement.

In June 2018, a spokesperson for then-New York Attorney General Underwood told the Associated Press that her office had opened an investigation looking specifically at the affairs of the Eric Trump Foundation and St. Jude’s Research Hospital. We asked the office of Underwood’s successor what the status of that investigation was in October 2019, but we did not receive a response. 

read all of it jjj. read the lst paragraph above you. there might be a small difference but it is pretty damn close.

[aubiefifty 18,210]

washingtonpost.com

 

Trump bought a 6-foot-tall portrait of himself with charity money. We may have found it.

By David A. Fahrenthold

8-10 minutes

---

Trump appears at the Aston Community Center and Library in Aston, Pa., on Tuesday. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

In 2007, Donald Trump spent $20,000 that belonged to his charity — the Donald J. Trump Foundation — to buy a six-foot-tall portrait of himself during a fundraiser auction at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

That purchase was reported Sunday by The Washington Post. Since then, the portrait has been the center of a mystery: What did Trump do with the painting after he bought it?

If Trump did not give the painting to a charity — or find a way to use it for charitable purposes — he may have violated IRS rules against “self-dealing,” which prohibit nonprofit leaders from spending charity money on themselves.

On Wednesday, a new clue emerged. A former production manager for the portrait’s painter told The Post that he had shipped the painting — at the request of Trump’s wife, Melania — to Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

Jody Young, the painter’s former manager, said that at the time he had spoken directly to Melania Trump about how the painting would be framed and displayed.

Her plan was “to hang it in either the boardroom or the conference room of the club,” Young said.

It is still unclear where the painting is now, or how long — if any time at all — it was on display at the private golf club. But tax experts say that an arrangement like the one described by Young could violate Internal Revenue Service rules.

If the painting is still hanging in the club, “it’s on display, in his business enterprise. It’s not on display in a charitable enterprise. It is arguably enhancing the experience of playing golf there,” said Marc Owens, the former director of the IRS division overseeing tax-exempt enterprises. “It’s not a charitable use. It is a noncharitable use.”

Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold is investigating how much Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has given to charity over the past seven years. Here's what he found. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

The Post sent questions about the portrait to the Trump campaign Wednesday afternoon via email, text and voice-mail message. The Trump campaign did not respond. The Post also tried to view the portrait at Trump National but was turned away at the club’s entrance.

On Tuesday, President Obama cited the painting as he campaigned for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — using it to contrast Trump’s foundation with the much larger Clinton Foundation.

“You want to debate foundations and charities?” Obama said. “One candidate’s family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate’s foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself.”

The Post was also shown a picture of the painting for the first time on Wednesday. The photo was taken during the auction and does not show where the portrait might be now.

Michael Israel, the artist who made the painting, declined to comment Wednesday. In an earlier interview, he said of the painting: “I understand it went to one of his golf courses.” At that time, Israel was not sure which course the painting had gone to.

The portrait was made at a benefit for a Florida charity, the Children’s Place at Home Safe at Mar-a-Lago in November 2007.

Both Donald and Melania Trump attended, sitting near the stage, according to photos viewed by The Post. The entertainment was Israel, who bills himself as “the original speed painter.”

Young said that Israel had been notified ahead of time that Trump would be there — and had planned to paint a portrait of him during his frenetic show.

During a typical Israel performance, he paints five or six paintings in just 30 minutes. Music plays. Paint splatters Young, who handled the logistics. He had formerly worked for the fruit-smashing comedian Gallagher.

“I had experience with plastic,” he said. “Splattering watermelon and splattering paint — it’s kind of the same effect.”

That night, according to the picture The Post viewed, Israel painted Trump in a white dress shirt and blue tie, with broad strokes to show his trademark mane of hair. Israel also painted portraits of golfer Paula Creamer, John Lennon and a firefighter carrying a young girl.

Afterward, the paintings were auctioned by David Schall, an auctioneer who traveled with Israel. He stood on the stage in wet paint. He sold the Trump painting last.

At first, Schall said, there were two bidders: Melania Trump and Creamer. Then Creamer bowed out, saying the price had gone too high.

Then it was only Melania Trump, bidding $10,000.

Schall pushed her to go higher.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to bid against you, and perhaps you should consider doubling your bid,” Schall, during a telephone interview Wednesday, recalled saying. “And I think she might have turned to Donald Trump, and I guess she got the go-ahead.”

“And there we were at 20,000,” Schall recalled. “Big round of applause, and everybody was excited.”

The painting sold.

“It really wasn’t a lot,” Schall said. Schall said he had sold paintings for much more: Paintings of the Beatles had gone for more than $30,000. Young recalled another painting, of billionaire Warren Buffett, which sold for more than $100,000.

During the auction that night, Schall had worked the room, and he remembers good-naturedly ribbing Melania Trump from the stage. “‘I think everybody wants to know, Mrs. Trump, if this is going to end up in the boardroom or the bedroom.’ Lots of laughter. She didn’t say anything.”

The answer, apparently, was the boardroom.

Young said that after the show, he took the painting back to a warehouse, let the acrylic paint dry, then rolled it up for shipping.

He said Melania Trump directed him on where to send it.

“She asked that it be shipped to the Westchester golf club, I recall, and we had several phone conversations involved in re-framing the canvas,” Young said.

Later, a check was sent to The Children’s Place at Home Safe. The check came from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Melania Trump is not an officer of that charity, but her husband is its president.

(Courtesy of Home Safe)

An executive from the children’s charity, now called HomeSafe, said the charity had split the money with the artist.

Later, when the Trump Foundation completed its tax filings for 2007, there was a line on the IRS form that asked if it had violated rules by using charity money to “furnish goods, services, or facilities” to one of its officers.

The Trump Foundation checked “no.”

Donald Trump signed the form.

If the IRS determined that the purchase of the painting was a prohibited act of “self-dealing” by Trump, it could impose penalties on both the foundation and on him.

Owens, the former IRS official, said the agency could also impose tax penalties for filing an incorrect return.

“The question is: Did the person who signed the return — was that a knowingly false answer to that question?” said Owens, now a partner with the firm Loeb & Loeb. He said that Trump might be able to defend himself by saying that he was not aware the answer to the self-dealing question was wrong.

On the night of the auction, it appeared that Melania Trump had some reservations about the painting she’d just purchased.

She approached the artist and pointed out a few details she believed he had not captured accurately.

“[It’s] very rare that anybody has any commentary. They’re usually so blown away they don’t have anything to say about the artwork,” Israel told The Post. “It wasn’t like a critique. It was just, ‘I think this would be like this, and I realize that you did this very fast.’ ”

Alice Crites and Philip Bump contributed to this report.

The Washington Post has contacted more than 420 charities with some ties to the GOP nominee in an effort to find proof of the millions he has said he donated. We've been mostly unsuccessful.

 

i would bet my behind when trump was caught

was when he "split" the money.

[jj3jordan 2,171]

Too much blather for me fifty.  I just read it and snopes declared it false. No one involved was accused of stealing. A lot of people don’t like Trump and say things that get cited in publications. Not a snopes fan myself but usually they side with the left. If they don’t I need to take notice.