https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/michael-cohens-testimony-again-illustrates-153500579.htmlFrom Esquire
It's important to remember that pretty much every organization Donald Trump has ever run is under investigation or has been shut down. The campaign and administration and inaugural committee are all under investigation, but so is the Trump Organization. Trump University was shut down long ago amid allegations of fraud, and the man himself agreed to pay $25 million to the victims.
The Trump Foundation was also shuttered amid a lawsuit from the New York state attorney general, and Michael Cohen's prepared testimony before a congressional committee on this Wednesday is a reminder why.
A copy of an article with Mr. Trump’s handwriting on it that reported on the auction of a portrait of himself – he arranged for the bidder ahead of time and then reimbursed the bidder from the account of his non-profit charitable foundation, with the picture now h*****g in one of his country clubs.
Mr. Trump directed me to find a straw bidder to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned at an Art Hamptons Event. The objective was to ensure that his portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon. The portrait was purchased by the f**e bidder for $60,000. Mr. Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the f**e bidder, despite keeping the art for himself. Please see Exhibit 3B to my testimony.
The above is, needless to say, not how a "charity" is supposed to operate. We discuss this with the caveat that Cohen is a known liar who admits to previously lying to Congress. But this is right in line with pretty
much everything we've learned about the Trump Foundation-thanks in large part to the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Farenthold-which has always suggested it wasn't really a charity at all. This is not the only report of the Foundation's money, almost all of which came from donors outside the family because Trump scarcely gave a dime, being used to buy a portrait of the man himself. What a ball of sleaze, and a stunning testament to malignant narcissism.
What did you expect, though? Thanks to the Post, we learned that the largest donation the Trump Foundation ever made was a $264,231 gift to the Central Park Conservancy in 1989. That sounds great, until you learn it appeared to directly benefit Trump's business: it restored a fountain outside the Plaza
Hotel, which he very temporarily owned. Again, this was probably mostly other people's money. The smallest donation it ever made was to the Boy Scouts the same year. It was $7, which exactly matches the fee to register a kid in the program. Donald Trump, Jr. was 11 at the time, meaning it's an odds-on bet that Trump the Elder, the Billionaire Business Tycoon, was so cheap he wouldn't pay seven bucks to make Junior a Boy Scout. No wonder his son is such a Freudian field day.
We would also be remiss not to mention another incident, also via the Post, in which Trump showed up uninvited to a ribbon-cutting for a school opened by the Association to Benefit Children to serve children with AIDS. He was not invited because he hadn't given any money to the cause. Nonetheless, he arrived and stole a seat up front from one of the most generous donors, presenting himself as one of the great benefactors of the charity. When the ceremony was over, he left without a word-or, of course, giving a dollar.
No wonder the New York state attorney general wants to ban him and his children from running any charitable organization in their home state for 10 years.