NY AG Is Investigating Trump Charity

He says office is looking into reports of 'impropriety'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2016 12:03 AM CDT
NY AG Is Investigating Trump Charity
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally Tuesday in Clive, Iowa.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A new headache for Donald Trump: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has confirmed that the Donald J. Trump Foundation charity is being investigated "to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York," Politico reports. Schneiderman tells CNN that his office is the regulator of nonprofits in New York state, and they're concerned that the Trump charity "may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view." Washington Post investigations of the foundation have found that Trump apparently hasn't donated to his personal charity since 2008—and that Trump has used its funds to buy gifts, including a large painting of himself.

Letters obtained by CNN show that the AG's office has been corresponding with the Trump Foundation since June, when officials asked the charity about a $25,000 contribution to a PAC supporting Florida AG Pam Bondi in 2013. The Trump campaign called Schneiderman "a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years" and called the investigation "a left-wing hit job" designed to distract from Clinton's "disastrous week." The New York investigation comes amid tightened scrutiny of Trump's charitable giving: On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that it had contacted 326 charities and only found a single $10,000 donation from Trump's own pocket between 2008 and May this year. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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