52 Facts About Trump Foundation

Donald J Trump Foundation was a New York-based tax-exempt private foundation formed in 1988 by Donald Trump and existed until its court-ordered and court-supervised dissolution in 2019.

Trump Foundation served as its president until January 2017, three days after his inauguration as US President.

Trump Foundation's activities came under scrutiny during the 2016 presidential election campaign, initially by The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold.

In December 2016, Trump tried to dissolve the foundation, but the New York State Attorney General's office blocked dissolution pending completion of its investigations.

In November 2019, Trump admitted to using the foundation for his business and political purposes and was ordered to pay $2million as restitution.

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Additionally, Trump was required to reimburse $11,525 to the foundation, which was added to $1,797,598.

Donald Trump Foundation was its president until January 2017, three days after his inauguration as US President.

The donations were reported by the Trump Foundation as coming from the WWE, but the WWE has claimed money came from Vince and Linda McMahon personally.

Trump Foundation solicited donations in lieu of payment for other services as well.

In September 2016 the New York attorney general's office, which administers the state's Charities Bureau, announced it was investigating the Trump Foundation based on its failure to file required forms with the bureau.

In December 2016, one month before his inauguration, then president-elect Trump announced that he would dissolve the Trump Foundation to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict with [his] role as President".

In January 2016, Trump Foundation held a fundraiser for veterans' causes in lieu of appearing at a televised Republican debate.

Trump Foundation claimed that the event raised $6million, including $1 million of his own money.

Fahrenthold determined instead that, several months after the rally, the Trump Foundation had yet to disburse funds to any veteran-related charities.

In June 2016, in response to criticism, Trump Foundation asserted publicly that he had given about $102million to charitable causes from 2009 through 2015 and released a 93-page list of more than 4,800 donations.

Mr Trump alone made all decisions related to the Foundation.

The Trump Foundation was initially registered as a private foundation set up solely to receive his own personal donations.

However, records show that Trump Foundation began soliciting donations at least as early as 2004 and possibly as early as 1989.

Trump Foundation distributed at least some of the funds publicly at "Donald Trump Foundation for President" rallies, displaying large-size donation checks that included his campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" or a link to a campaign website.

In each of 1995 and 1999, the Trump Foundation granted $50,000 to the National Museum of Catholic Art and Library.

Trump Foundation had made a pledge of $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund on The Howard Stern Show in late September 2001.

In 2016, after the convention, Trump's campaign suggested that the Trump Foundation made a grant to the American Red Cross after the attacks; however, no record of it exists in the foundation's tax filings from 2001 through 2014.

Trump Foundation countersued Palm Beach for $25million on US constitutional grounds for restricting his 1st amendment rights of free speech and his 14th amendment rights of equal protection.

However, Trump then made the grant using foundation money, not his own.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 in support of Florida attorney general Pam Bondi's election campaign while Bondi's office was reviewing fraud allegations against Trump University, a for-profit real estate program.

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Around that time Trump Foundation hosted a fundraiser for Bondi at his Mar-a-Lago resort at a fee well below his normal market rate.

In 2016 New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said publicly that the Trump Foundation was the subject of an ongoing investigation by his office.

In October 2016 Graham revealed to the Charlotte Observer that in 2012 he had instructed Trump Foundation to make the $100,000 donation, and that the money was used to pay for full-page ads urging voters to support candidates in the 2012 presidential election who supported "biblical values".

In 2014 the Trump Foundation made a $100,000 grant to the Citizens United Foundation, a charitable foundation closely related to David Bossie's conservative group, Citizens United.

Trump Foundation donated a total of $40,000 from 2011 through 2013 to the Drumthwacket Foundation, a charitable organization formed to pay for renovation and historic preservation of the New Jersey governor's mansion of the same name.

In 2011, Trump Foundation was seeking to acquire permits to build a personal cemetery on the fairway at the Trump Foundation National Golf Club in New Jersey and may have needed political help in obtaining approval for the permit.

In May 2015, the Trump Foundation granted $10,000 to Project Veritas, a news organisation run by conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe.

In October 2016 RealClearPolitics reported that Trump directed significant amounts of foundation money to conservative organizations, possibly in return for political support and access.

In 1989, the Trump Foundation paid more than half a "voluntary assessment" imposed on the Plaza Hotel by the Central Park Conservancy.

Since Trump Foundation had yet to release his income taxes at that time, the Post was unable to confirm if the income was declared for any of the donations received.

Trump Foundation received a total of $5million in donations from World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon and his wife Linda McMahon from 2007 to 2009.

Trump Foundation appeared twice in WrestleMania events, in 2007 and again in 2009.

In 2007, the Celebrity Fight Night Trump Foundation hosted a fundraiser to benefit the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Trump Foundation subsequently received $150,000 of auction proceeds that would otherwise have gone to the center benefitting Parkinson's disease research.

The Trump Foundation Organization provided journalists with a 93-page list of the donations.

Trump Foundation had pledged the money personally, and then the Trump Foundation solicited the $150,000 earmarked for the police foundation from an unrelated philanthropic organization, the Charles Evans Foundation.

Trump Foundation received highly visible praise for his generosity on his prime-time television show The Apprentice.

Trump Foundation frequently offered to make generous donations to his contestants' charities, but records show that he ultimately either directed the Trump Foundation to make a grant or had the show's network, NBC Universal, make the donation.

Trump Foundation is responsible by law for ensuring that any grant it makes to another private foundation is used strictly for charitable purposes.

In late December 2016, one month before his inauguration, Trump announced that he would dissolve the Trump Foundation to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict with [his] role as President".

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On September 30,2016, the attorney general's office issued a "Notice of Violation" to the Trump Foundation, ordering it to immediately stop all fundraising in New York and to file its registration and all required past audits within 15 days, or risk being "deemed to be a continuing fraud on the people of the State of New York".

The Trump Foundation had been registered in New York under the state's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law with a designation intended for self-funded private foundations.

The Trump Foundation was at the time granted an extension of time for filing its financial paperwork, including all past audits.

The attorney general's office said the Trump Foundation agreed to cooperate with their ongoing investigation.

The suit noted that Trump himself made all decisions about disbursement of foundation funds and that the board of directors had not met for 18 years.

On November 7,2019, Scarpulla ordered Trump to pay a $2million settlement for misusing the foundation for his business and political purposes, directing the settlement money to be given to a handful of charities.

Trump Foundation had made referrals to the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.