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On Christmas Eve, Trump Announces His Foundation Will Shut Down

On Christmas Eve, Trump Announces His Foundation Will Shut Down

(Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he intends to dissolve his charitable foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which has been under investigation by the New York attorney general.

Trump gave no timeline for winding down the foundation, but said in a statement that he wanted “to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President.” He directed his counsel to take the necessary steps for the dissolution.

With less than four weeks to his January 20 inauguration, the New York real estate magnate is under increasing pressure to reduce potential conflicts of interest ranging from his vast global business operations to his family’s philanthropic work.

This week, Trump said his son Eric would stop raising money for his own foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family. The president-elect said it was a “ridiculous shame” that his son’s foundation would stop raising money.

Before Trump’s surprising election victory on November 8, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in October directed the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop taking donations, saying the foundation violated state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with a state office.

Schneiderman’s order followed a series of reports in The Washington Post that suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said on Saturday that Trump cannot shutter the foundation while the investigation is ongoing.

“The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said. She would not comment on expected timing for completing the investigation.

Trump said he was “very proud” of the money raised by the foundation and said it had operated at “essentially no cost for decades.”

“But because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world,” he added in his statement, “I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest.”

The Trump Foundation, which was established in 1988, runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates to other nonprofit groups such as the Police Athletic League for youths.

Scrutiny of the Trump family’s philanthropic activities heightened in recent weeks following reports of access to the family for potential donors.

Eric Trump faced criticism for an online auction sponsored by his foundation, which raises money to help terminally ill children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, offering the highest bidder a chance to have coffee with his sister Ivanka.

After the announcement that Eric would not be allowed to raise money for his foundation, Trump tweeted: “He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!”

Trump’s critics, however, remembered how the president-elect had attacked his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over their family foundation. In August, Trump urged the Justice Department to investigate the Clinton Foundation, which he called a “pay-to-play” operation that rewarded big donors with favors from the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state.

Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. also came under fire this week for their role in a post-inauguration charity event that offered a private reception with their father in exchange for a $1 million donation.

The brothers were listed on a draft invitation as honorary co-chairmen of the fundraiser for conservation charities, dubbed “Opening Day,” set to be held in Washington the day after the January 20 inauguration.

On Tuesday, the Trump transition team said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not involved with the fundraiser and a subsequent invitation dropped references to donors meeting with any members of the Trump family.

(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Melissa Fares; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Leslie Adler)

IMAGE: President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, December 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Under Fire, Eric Trump Suspends Charitable Foundation

Under Fire, Eric Trump Suspends Charitable Foundation

(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump is suspending the operations of his charitable foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

“No new money will come into the ETF bank account,” Eric Trump wrote in an email message on Thursday, according to the Post, in reference to the Eric Trump Foundation.

Eric Trump faced criticism for an online auction sponsored by his foundation offering the highest bidder a chance to have coffee with his sister, Ivanka.

The New York Times reported that bids had risen to more than $72,000, and that the top bidders were people seeking to influence Donald Trump’s policymaking.

The foundation, which gives most of the money it raises to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, canceled the auction on Friday.

Eric Trump told the Times on Wednesday he had decided to stop directly soliciting contributions to the foundation because he now recognized donors could be seeking access to his father.

“As unfortunate as it is, I understand the quagmire,” Trump told the Times. “You do a good thing that backfires.”

Eric Trump and the Trump presidential transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr., also came under fire this week for their role in a post-inauguration charity event that offered a private reception with their father in exchange for a $1 million donation.

The brothers were listed on a draft invitation as honorary co-chairmen of the fundraiser for conservation charities, dubbed “Opening Day,” set to be held in Washington the day after the Jan. 20 inauguration. The invitation was first reported by TMZ.com last week.

On Tuesday, the Trump transition team said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not involved with the fundraiser and a subsequent invitation dropped references to donors meeting with any members of the Trump family.

(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Andrew Hay and Jonathan Oatis)

IMAGE: Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump waits to enter an escalator in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Kellyanne Conway Offers Ridiculous Defense Of Trump Sons’ Selling Access

Kellyanne Conway Offers Ridiculous Defense Of Trump Sons’ Selling Access

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

Kellyanne Conway has not only drunk the Trump Kool-Aid, it’s running in her veins. Which is why she was just promoted to the highest position any woman holds in the Trump administration, counselor to the president. What this likely means is that she will keep up her whispering to Trump (about what he should say in order to hide his racist, misogynist buffoonery) and that she will continue to appear on TV shows and spin utter nonsense as ever more damning revelations about the deeply corrupt Trump administration come out.

Chris Cuomo grilled Conway Wednesday about the almost laughably blatant way the Trump sons are selling access to their dad. The hefty $1 million price tag on a sit down with the Trumpster was supposedly all for a well-meaning charity. Hmmm, Cuomo wondered, isn’t that sort of like what the Trump campaign was hammering Clinton about? Paying for access to power to benefit a charity that does good work?

“I think we should go back and look at what Don Jr. and Eric have done and wanted to continue to do, which is raise money for charities,” Conway said. “The Eric Trump Foundation is ten years old. It has done enormously great work.”

“It’s the same thing the Clinton people said when they were defending their allegations of pay-for-play,” Cuomo noted, and then turned back to the Trumps, who were, “selling off a million-dollar trip to hunt with the boys and hang out with the president. That sounds like paying for access.”

Conway tried to pivot back to the Clintons, spewing allegations that were often repeated during the campaign and proven untrue.

“So paying a million dollars to hang out with the president is okay?” Cuomo pressed.

“I didn’t say that,” Conway said after a moment of silence.

“I know, you’re not answering,” Cuomo observed. “You’re going after the Clintons. I’m saying, what’s your answer? You mentioned the Clinton Foundation, you said it’s the same,” Conway shot back. “I’m saying it’s absolutely not the same.”

Cuomo wondered, if what the Trump sons were doing was so noble and charitable, why have they since rescinded the offer?

Because the media is sooo unfair, was basically Conway’s response.

First, Conway engages in some of her trademark Islam- and refugee-bashing. Then to the corruption doublespeak.

Watch:

Pay To Play: Inauguration Parties Offer Prime Opportunities For Trump Family

Pay To Play: Inauguration Parties Offer Prime Opportunities For Trump Family

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

The Trump family has once again made clear that it plans to milk Donald Trump’s presidency for every penny it’s worth. According to an invitation leaked by gossip site TMZ, Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. are hosting an event the evening of January 21, the day after their father’s inauguration event (to which organizers have reportedly tried and failed to attract popular entertainers with hefty paychecks and ambassador positions). The Trump siblings’ “Opening Day” gala offers attendees the chance, for a mere $500,000 to $1 million, to take a picture with Trump himself. Big money donors at that level will also get a chance to go hunting with Don Jr. and/or Eric, who are well-known for their history of killing beautiful, endangered exotic wildlife.

Tickets to the event start at $25,000, but for that kind of chump change, you only receive a unimpressive package of perks. Even $50,000 and $100,000 tickets won’t even get you pictures with Eric and Donald Jr. You’ll have to cough up at least $250,000 to have a photo opportunity with the brothers, and double that for a chance to hobnob with their father. According to the invite, all proceeds will be donated to unspecified conservative groups.

The entire Trump family has been in attendance for official gatherings with international leaders and tech industry titans, and at various other important meetings from which they should be barred based on ties to the Trump organization and myriad conflicts of interest. Donald Trump has refused to divest, or outline how he might disentangle himself from his many business holdings. Since all of the Trump kids essentially serve as staffers for their dad’s administration, taking part in high-profile briefings, the offer of access in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars seems like yet another pay-for-play opportunity.

Just last week, the Eric Trump Foundation offered coffee with Ivanka Trump to the highest bidder of an online auction. That listing hit almost $78,000 by the time it was taken down following a New York Times article that was critical of the fundraiser. Eric Trump’s charity has also announced an event for February, offering donors at the $25,000 “gold level” and up “special access.” Foreign dignitaries and other heads of states are renting rooms at Trump hotels in an effort to get on the good side of President-elect Trump, who maintains ties to all of his businesses. Within days of the election, Ivanka’s clothing and accessory business used her appearance on a “60 Minutes” interview to hawk a $10,000 bracelet which the soon-to-be first daughter was seen sporting on TV.

“This is just wrong,” Fred Wertheimer, president of government watchdog organization Democracy 21, told the New York Times last week in response to the coffee date auction. “The president’s family should not be out raising money for whatever cause, in exchange for a potential influence buyer who wants to get his views to the president.”

Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.

IMAGE: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as (L-R) his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his daughter Ivanka, his son Eric, Eric’s wife Lara Yunaska and Trump’s wife Melania  look on, during a campaign victory party after rival candidate Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination following the results of the Indiana state primary, at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson