“This is not as a clear violation as the self dealing,…”
It’s clear to me what they’re up to: No reported income, no taxes.
Good reporting, Tierney. And thanks WaPo.
He’s been running for a year and a half and only now are we finding out about this. While the MSM was off following Clouds and Shadows, this was right out in plain sight.
And no, it’s not oppo research leaked as an October Surprise. The time to leak this stuff was shortly after the convention and let the drip drip drip (like his nose) take a toll.
Well, unless there’s some huge crusher yet to be revealed that they’re sitting on. In that case, yeah, timing is perfect.
Is Trump Foundation paying a Trump-owned country club a "storage fee " for displaying the painting of HO? And similarly is Trump Foundation paying HO for storing their Tebow helmet at his house?
Still, a criminal case would be tough to pursue, the experts said, as it requires proof of intent – that Trump knew he was violating the law – and ignorance is a permissible defense to tax allegations like these.
QED.
“He’s a guy who is supposedly a billionaire but has run that foundation like a thousand-aire,” Fishman said.
No. He runs the foundation like a grifter. There is no point in sugar coating it. The only beneficiary of the Trump Foundation is Trump.
Well, I think the press should keep digging, because there is obviously lots of material relevant to the choice the voters have to make and to Trump’s ethics and fitness to serve. Just like the Karma on his Health and Stamina issues, his Foundation issues are coming to bite him on the bottom and keep him from claiming any moral authority to judge or criticize the Clinton Foundation. Or Clinton email issues either since he has been found guilty in a civil case of purging his company’s emails that would have been discoverable. .
Ha Ha, WaPo scoops Gray Lady once again!
Edited to add: I wonder if Hilz is dropping oppo research into the WaPo mailbox as revenge against cloudy, shadowy NYT?
My question is - was the payer of the funds to the Trump Foundation able to write off their “donations” off as charitable contributions? Was there an opportunity for double-dipping from the payer as well as the payee?
The original payment was going to be a deduction anyhow, so no double-dipping.
I really don’t see this as a big deal - going to be close to a wash whether Trump accepts the payment and then cuts a check to the Foundation or whether the money goes straight to the Foundation. Might be a technical violation, but no real impact on the net result.
Using the Foundation money to settle his personal accounts is a big deal - that’s basically self-dealing and a big no-no.
The difference is if he paid his taxes.
Ok, just dusting off my lawyer’s hat, or wig. Never practiced tax law, I should specify.
Here’s what I don’t quite understand about the wrongdoing, and I’d love someone to explain it to me.
Scenario 1: A is owed $1 million by B. A instructs B to pay the money to Foundation. A thereby avoids incurring an income tax liability of $400,000.
Scenario 2: Same as above, except B pays A; A declares the income and incurs income tax liability; A donates to the Foundation; and A declares the donation as a deductible contribution, thereby reducing his income tax liability by $400,000.
Formalities aside, why is scenario A so much worse than scenario B?
One culpable answer might be that it constitutes tax evasion if A has already reached his limit on charitable donations to a private foundation, which is I think 30% of his gross adjusted income. Because Trump hasn’t released his tax returns, we don’t know if that’s the case. But it would certainly be the case if Trump declares a loss or near-loss every year. I very much suspect that is what happens most years.
Is there another answer that I’ve missed? I’m no expert, as I say.
Let’s run the scenario a little further: A regularly uses Foundation money for personal use, as Trump appears to have done to the tune of at least $250,000. But that leaves hundreds of thousands of dollar that have not been used for personal purposes. What happened to this balance? If it was spent on legit charitable causes, the accusation of a slush fund loses its sting. (You are still left with the tax evasion and self-dealing issues, it must be added). And if the diverted money merely sits in the Foundation account, I suppose it could always be said that it is being preserved for future charitable expenditure. Much worse for Trump is if the balance sits there AND none of it is put to charitable use–and where the ONLY use to which the funds are put are personal ones. Do the facts support this?
Any chance someone in the IRS (or Trump’s accountants department) leaked a copy of Trump’s taxes to the Dems? Presumably someone with as complicated tax affairs as Trump would must have a lot of people who know the answer to the fundamental questions.
Spend September having trump insist he paid taxes and did nothing wrong then in October release the records showing he didn’t pay taxes and should be indicted for fraud.
If the proof is real, but convoluted, arcane, or hard to follow, the stink of the question might be more effective than the truth in this case. So a headline that says “Did Trump Steal From the Trump Foundation?” on October 25 or so would be absolutely perfect.
Isn’t it interesting that Trump seems to have already been doing many of the “crimes” the he accuses Hillary of?
As a person who did a fair amount of babysitting in his pre-teens and teens, this makes perfect sense to me: The loudest of the blustery seven-year old liars were almost always guilty (like 98% of the time) of whatever they accused others of doing. I swear, I could have written a book about these kids … and I’ve often wondered if their parents were Republicans … not at the time, mind you, but nowadays because of how Republicans conduct themselves in the real world.
Anybody, and I mean anybody, who runs a charitable foundation understands the strict prohibition against self dealing. Little League dads who serve as treasurer for their team understand this basic issue. So the concept of “I didn’t know” is, in this case, just ridiculous. It really isn’t a serious issue. Absolutely zero self-dealing is allowed as far as “piggy bank” loans are concerned, and any self-interested transactions have to be at provable market rates with evidence of alternative bidding.
And in accordance with the axiom of “follow the money,” any not for profit charity has to be audited, and it has to submit a 990 to the IRS. Given the size of Trump’s charity and overall business, the Trump Foundation was certainly audited by a CPA firm. CPA’s are compelled, under penalty of losing their license, to report abuse such as self-dealing. Might be time to go to GuideStar.com, check out the Trump Foundation’s filings, and see who their auditors are. If the CPA’s have covered Trump’s tracks then they’re up a creek. The threat of losing their license might be just enough medicine to help them find their voices, and help them remember what they’ve found.
I wonder if Trump Foundation is using the same CPAs as Enron?
@JoshMarshall THIS!
TRUMP and associates being brought into custody
So the Bondi bribe was tax-exempt? This is getting so confusing.