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| No my flagpole is much bigger than this. |
Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a review of legal documents.
Those cases, which together used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four newly documented expenditures in which Trump may have violated laws against “self-dealing” — which prohibit nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their businesses.
In one case, from 2007, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club faced $120,000 in unpaid fines from the town of Palm Beach, Fla., resulting from a dispute over the height of a flagpole.
In a settlement, Palm Beach agreed to waive those fines — if Trump’s club made a $100,000 donation to a specific charity for veterans. Instead, Trump sent a check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a charity funded almost entirely by other people’s money, according to tax records.
Anybody surprised that Donald Trump was in a dispute over the "length of his flagpole?"
Yeah me neither.
Trump also used Foundation money to settle a lawsuit concerning one of his golf courses, to purchase advertising for his hotels, and also he used $10,000 to buy a portrait of himself.
How "charitable" of him.
All of this is of course completely illegal and if this were a regular guy he would be facing jail time.
Here is how one expert on charities responded to the news:
“I represent 700 nonprofits a year, and I’ve never encountered anything so brazen,” said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, who advises charities at the Venable law firm in Washington. After The Washington Post described the details of these Trump Foundation gifts, Tenenbaum described them as “really shocking.”
“If he’s using other people’s money — run through his foundation — to satisfy his personal obligations, then that’s about as blatant an example of self-dealing [as] I’ve seen in awhile,” Tenenbaum said.
So is this it? Is this the scandal that finally destroys the Donald Trump candidacy?
Or is this just one more scandal to add to the long list of scandals that have failed to stop this seemingly Teflon coated thug?
Sadly I think we already know the answer.
Hillary needs to go to the debate and read out all of his egregious lies, threats, cheating his suppliers, the "alleged" rape charge, inciting violence toward herself, trashing vets, etc. etc. -- the list is very long.
ReplyDeleteOr, take "a gun to a gun fight", for that is what the debates will be, IF they take place. She has to strike first and hard to let him know he is beaten. Will she... can she?
I'd loved to have seen Bernie debate Trump. Trump knew he'd lose, so he cowardly dodged that bullet.
Trumps girly little fingers are showing what he thinks of blatant lying: this much. "If it helps me win, it's justified, am I right, folks?"
DeleteNYTimes is finally calling him on his lies -- but with Canada's Toronto Star is way ahead of them with a list of 12 falsehoods from just two speeches on Saturday.
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/09/18/donald-trump-said-12-false-things-on-saturday.html
New York Times decides to call a lie a lie, and its Trump coverage may never be the same
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/20/1572229/-New-York-Times-decides-to-call-a-lie-a-lie-and-its-Trump-coverage-may-never-be-the-same?detail=email&link_id=1&can_id=b1acb491dd386a41c7871504f4c1c604&source=email-new-york-times-decides-to-call-a-lie-a-lie-and-its-trump-coverage-may-never-be-the-same&email_referrer=new-york-times-decides-to-call-a-lie-a-lie-and-its-trump-coverage-may-never-be-the-same&email_subject=new-york-times-decides-to-call-a-lie-a-lie-and-its-trump-coverage-may-never-be-the-same
I hope Hillary doesn't try to out wonk him with long detailed policy answers. That's not what a debate is about. I heard on NPR this morning that she needs to remain calm, deflect his insults with wit (but don't sink to his level) and give short, easily understandable policy explanations.
DeleteI run 2 small non-profits. If I did what Trump did, I be in jail.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jim W. Fb page:
ReplyDelete"The difference between Clinton's array of scandals and Donald Trump's is that we know all about his and do almost nothing. He discriminates in housing; we do nothing. He hires foreign workers because he can save money by not buying them safety equipment, and is only incidentally lucky that none of them get killed due to his depraved indifference; we do nothing. He runs a fake University based on sale guidelines we have in hand, to rip off people who can't afford it; we do nothing. He runs a charity that gives to charity only when it's convenient for Donald Trump to give to charity; we do nothing. He spends two hundred thousand from that charity for an idealized portrait of himself; we do nothing. He drives many small contractors into bankruptcy by paying only on lawsuit, and sometimes not even then; we do nothing. He runs a modeling agency that violates immigration laws, pimps some of the women out to rich men, and sends the others back overseas with a pittance for years of constant work; we do nothing. He uses massive enterprises doomed to fail into exercises in shoveling money into his pocket before declaring those companies bankrupt; we do nothing. He overbills his own campaign for services rendered by his corporations, thus turning the race for the Presidency into a money-making opportunity; we do nothing. He is caught making payments to the attorney generals of two states, in order to stop investigations; we do nothing. Investigations document that he's in debt to Russia and China and that if President he will be severely compromised on the international stage; we do nothing. He promises his followers that if they beat up protesters he will pay their legal fees, reneges even on that, and we do nothing. He claims to have provided his lowliest workers with child care only to have it revealed that it was a premium service offered to guests at his hotels, and we do nothing. He lies, for years on end, about possessing evidence that the incumbent was not born in this country, then claims to have settled the whole thing to the contrary while reneging on promises to pay millions to charity if he's wrong; we do nothing. He claims to have personally witnessed a mob of thousands of Muslims cheering the fall of the World Trade Center from Jersey City, claims to have footage of this, does not produce it, does not answer the abundant evidence that this patently dangerous claim is a total lie meant only to foment violence; we do nothing. He hobnobs with white supremacists; we do nothing. He mocks the disabled, we do nothing. He slanders gold star parents because of their ethnic background; we do nothing. He proves that he is bored by detail and wants the prize of the Presidency more than the responsibility or the wearying work: and we do nothing. He is being investigated for child rape; and we do nothing."
Fellow divorcees: I highly recommend including this clause in your divorce agreement. My attorney is genius and crafted it.
ReplyDelete“Each party shall take all measures deemed advisable to foster a feeling of affection between the child and the other party. Neither party shall say or do anything that may estrange the child from the other party or impair the child’s high regard for the other party. This means, for example and not by way of limitation, each party shall refrain from all spoken and written statements and communication, including electronic communication, that the child may hear, read, receive or have access to that may estrange the child from the other party or impair the child’s high regard for the other party.”
Huh? Alicia, you need to get a date before you divorce.
DeleteOnce you engage in the legal commitment of marriage and produce offspring how about you just stay married, you know, for the kids, for their stability. How about not being selfish for once.
Delete"as people have gotten to know the younger Trumps better, they have revealed themselves to be as rough-edged as dear old Dad. That’s particularly true of his namesake, Donald Trump Jr."his son and namesake also has political ambitions, and is essentially a younger and better-looking version of his father with much more hair. If alt-right white nationalism is going to be an ongoing feature of American political life, it has found its figurehead."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.salon.com/2016/09/21/donald-trump-jr-and-the-white-nationalist-alt-right-a-pattern-that-goes-way-beyond-coincidence/
U think this proves he is lying about his "wealth" Why would a really wealthy person take a chance like that, doing something so blatantly illegal? He is as phony as both his doctor's letters. Scam artist, being given free passes because the media wants ratings. With any luck, he will be in prison by the time the elections arrive.
ReplyDeleteCheeto Jebus seems to be suffering from a great number of diagnoses in the DSM. Right now narcissism and projection seem to be at the top of the list.
ReplyDeleteProjection when he says Crooked Hillary? Oh yeah, he's DON the CON.
It would be SOOOO very nice to see the orange yam end up in the slammer.
Bless his heart. Our future emporer is a bit of a scamp, isn't he? Giggle!
ReplyDeleteOk, this is going to be unpleasant, but here's the truth:
ReplyDeleteTrump could announce a live special on prime time TV, and rape a woman or shoot someone with a gun and kill them, and his adoring racist bigoted fans would still vote for him.
The Evangelicals would dismiss it because Trump supposedly got "saved" this year, so all he'd have to do is as forgiveness.
Trump even boasted himself about one of those scenarios.
Sad state of affairs that we have a sociopathic rapist running for President, with viciously partisan Christian Taliban VP.
My suspicion is that Drumpf is nearly broke. There is most likely daily scrambling to keep afloat. Else why the dipping into the foundation for hundreds of thousands of dollars for bail-outs? FOLLOW THE MONEY! (now, especially the campaign charges for Drumpf's usage of his businesses)
ReplyDeleteRemember what Greenspan (Andrea Mitchell's husband who is as biased as she is) did for the stock market traders on margin? That was what took our country down. Pennies to buy millions of margin stock and then the hammer came down and we got our recession and some suicides.
All Greenspan needed to do was stop that practice AND we would not be in the hole we are in today. No balls. Read all about it. It will curl your hair in retrospect.
Drumpf is of the same mindset, something for nothing so people will like you, no balls, just near criminal behavior practices. Worked well, right?
All those who were involved in the fiasco, banking firms betting on the come with their stock portfolios using customers retirement stock -(remember Enron's folks? - out in the cold with every dime that legally belonged to them gone up in smoke) and Obama, with NO help from rwnj legislators has slogged for eight years digging us out of the hole Greenspan helped put us in, while Andrea does all she can to sour us on HRC, daily.
Totally agree. What's really sad is that his supporters think he's exceptionally smart to avoid paying taxes, to use other people's money to pay his bills, to "stiff" his contractors. They are as morally bereft as he is. They're saying "I'd do the same thing if I were him". They can't see the forest for the trees, and have no vision of what their own country would turn into if Trump behaved as President as he does as a private citizen.
ReplyDeleteYou hit that nail squarely in the head.
DeleteThe same morons that nod approvingly when a rich person does whatever they can to eliminate or reduce a tax bill ore the first to shriek "takers" at the paycheck-to-paycheck ordinary American who try to reduce or eliminate their tax bill to get that chickenfeed refund from H&R Block.
DeleteWhat they keep forgetting is that the government's bills still have to be paid somehow. If Trump weasels out of his tax responsibilities, THEY are the taxpayers making up the difference.
DeleteThey'll scream about how unfair it is that they pay taxes when people making $15,000 a year don't, but think it's fine and dandy that Trump pays nothing.
Imagine the GOP outrage if you substituted "Clinton" and "Clinton Foundation" in the story.
ReplyDeleteTrump does stuff like this because he gets away with it. His entire life has been one con after another, and nothing ever happens to him or his family. He just throws money at the problem and it goes away. If he gets the power of the presidency, watch out. Sometimes I think if he wins the presidency and things go to hell, it will be a relief to laugh and say "I told you so". Then reality takes over and I feel sick.
ReplyDeleteTrump is such a fucking fraud!
ReplyDeleteVote Hillary Clinton to keep our country safe!
Weinergate!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3790824/Anthony-Weiner-carried-months-long-online-sexual-relationship-troubled-15-year-old-girl-telling-hard-asking-dress-school-girl-outfits-pressing-engage-rape-fantasies.html
I was reading about his lastest networking scam. "Ideal Health" custom vitamins. Pyramid scheme type business. Oh piss. Whoa yer wells fargo horsey, Gee missy How many people are in this basket?
ReplyDeleteTrump is exercising again. The hands and tiny fingers waving and anus yappin and flapping. Up down up down yappin )0( flappin, talking azz clown gas basket stuff.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump is broke, and I suspect he is, I doubt his children (and wives / ex-wives) would be as adoring of their father as they appear to be if they knew their inheritance is "debt" rather than the millions they are hoping for.
ReplyDeleteSM
He promised a million bucks for a hole in one for a 150 yard drive and then moved the markers and denied the prize when the hole in one was made. That's how he rolls. Completely untrustworthy. Disgusting person.
ReplyDeleteWhen Donald Trump’s campaign manager Steve Bannon hastily changed his voter registration residence from an empty house in Miami to a beach house on Casey Key in Sarasota, it made news. The man he moved in with was described as one of Bannon’s Breitbart writers. But Andrew M. Badolato the owner of Bannon’s new ‘registered to vote here’ digs — is a lot more than that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.madcowprod.com/2016/09/21/trump-campaigns-bannon-ties-to-sarasota-grifter/
Steve Bannon ♥ Palin Grifters.
Is this enough to end his candidacy? No. Too many know-nothings don't give sh*t. Is it enough to send the Clinton chances of winning back to 80% territory? Quite possibly. Either he is not rich and is scamming to stay alive or he really is THAT sick - scamming for the fun of it to see what he can get away with. It could actually be some of both.
ReplyDeleteSince he has obviously broken so many laws, WHY DON'T THE FEDS GO AFTER HIM?
ReplyDeleteWhat are they waiting for? They think if they do it now it will look biased because he's running for president. It's WHY he's running for president.
He's hoping to get enough money to pay the fines and put his sinking ship back afloat.
The bonus being if he becomes president, he can just pardon himself.
"Teflon coated thug"
ReplyDeleteBingo!
In the photo above is Trump showing how big his penis is or how much he knows about foreign policy and world affairs? Oh right, it's AOT, K.
ReplyDeleteCNN parrots Trump in asking whether a terror suspect deserve due process.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cnn-terror-suspect-due-process_us_57e2a438e4b08d73b82eaf33?section=&&
And Trump thinks he is going to win the black vote by reinstating a nationwide stop and frisk law.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-stop-and-frisk_us_57e2dccde4b0e28b2b51e33b
Fascism much?
"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump thinks the best way to stop crime in black communities is to broaden the use of stop and frisk, a policing tactic that has been proved to be discriminatory against blacks and Latinos."
Oh, yeah. That's sure going to get him votes.
Don King's introduction of Trump didn't do him any favors either.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/don-king-donald-trump_us_57e29cf5e4b0e28b2b515c1e?
Well, in Trump's defense, at least he marked their applications with a C and not an N.
Gee. It's almost like African Americans are...uh...trying to sabotage Trump's campaign.
If only the rest of us would follow their lead.
Republicans squashed the impeachment of the head of the IRS but not before the Democrats hijacked a hearing and it was lovely to behold.
ReplyDeleteSkittles were involved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-hijack-irs-impeachment-donald-trump_us_57e2a858e4b0e28b2b5170aa?section=&
Not only did they skewer Trump on his refusal to release his taxes but they also got in some good jabs at his illegal use of his charity.
Everybody is complaining about Trump paying his fines using Donald Jr's charity money OPM. How else do you think a billionaire becomes a billionaire? They fuck everybody over. For instance they also do it by buying housing cheap and then evicts the minorities like daddy did and renovate the property and rent it to white people at a higher rate.
ReplyDeleteThey also buy goods and services, then refuse to pay and end up settling for pennies on the dollar.
DeleteRich people are the cheapest people on earth. They think they are entitled to anything they want for free.
The world is their SWAG.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/law-professor-trump-can-be-impeached-for-fraud-and-racketeering-before-he-even-takes-office/
ReplyDeleteGOTV, we need to make sure mr moneybags doesn't buy his way into the White House. Lost the link, but a reporter found the hooooooooooge portrait of Donald bought with charity money hanging in a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteWonder if they pass out airsickness bags? He needs to be held accountable, come on Trey, days of hearings, innuendos (and not the ones you're used to) for Comrade Don.
"A legal researcher at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law says that current lawsuits against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are sufficient grounds to impeach him from the presidency.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Christopher L. Peterson has found that should Trump win the election in November, he would be vulnerable to impeachment even before he takes office, thanks to fraud and racketeering lawsuits related to the Trump University case."
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/law-professor-trump-can-be-impeached-for-fraud-and-racketeering-before-he-even-takes-office/
And that doesn't even include the more recently uncovered illegal charity scams.
Perhaps this is why Republicans are gathering around him. They know they can easily get rid of him immediately after he takes the oath and then install Pence as President. Maybe that's their plan all along.
The man is hiding something hooooge, like using other people's money, giving to charities money he's not entitled to touch, not paying workers, suppliers etc. I hope Hillary's team is doing some serious digging.
ReplyDeleteOnly Trump can do this, that etc. etc. He promises the moon then drops trou, takes a bow and sashays onto his plane to his own crib in New York. I love when he says taxes are going down and he's going to get all this crap done, with what, may I ask? He has no clue that we need to pay taxes and some debt is needed to keep things running smoothly. All he sees is war, bang bang, shoot em up. Suggesting Hillary drop her protection detail, what a jackass (no offence to jackasses).
Thurston and Lovey don't know what a budget is, they spoil their kids and screw everyone else.