Trump likes to talk about the Clinton Foundation as if it exists to personally enrich Hillary Clinton, when in fact the Clinton Foundation keeps poor people with HIV from dying. The Trump Foundation, however, seems to exist to personally enrich Trump. The Washington Post broke that story weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, Jill Abramson pointed out that if the Clinton Foundation commissioned six-foot-tall portraits of Hillary and used other people's money to cover her own legal expenses (or to buy herself Tim Tebow-autographed helmets), she "might well be headed to prison."
But that Trump Foundation story never seemed to stick. Now, the Trump Foundation is in a new kind of trouble.
The foundation, which Trump ostensibly uses to raise money for veterans, is in violation of the law in New York State, according to New York's attorney general. It must cease and desist operations until it gets its paperwork in order. It has had years to do this and has failed. You can read the Notice of Violation here.
The Washington Post, which broke the story, breaks it down:
• Trump's charity has been soliciting donations without proper certification.
• Trump's charity has been ordered to cease raising funds immediately.
• The foundation has 15 days to get its paperwork together.
• The foundation has 15 days to "provide all the financial audit reports it should have provided in prior years, when it raised money without legal permission."
• If the foundation doesn't get its paperwork together by then, the state attorney general will consider it "a continuing fraud upon the people of New York."
The Post also reports that "Trump's foundation has subsisted entirely on donations from others since 2008, when Trump gave his last personal donation," and that one result of never having registered properly is that "Trump's foundation avoided rigorous outside audits, which New York law requires of larger charities that ask the public for money."
You know how Trump feels about being audited.
It's unclear how Trump feels about this cease and desist from the attorney general, because Trump himself hasn't commented yet, even though the letter was sent last Friday. He was very busy that day tweeting about Alicia Machado.
The Washington Post wasn't able to get a comment, but Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks told the New York Times:
While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind [the state attorney general's] investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation. Because this is an ongoing legal matter, the Trump Foundation will not comment further at this time.
Hmm, who can we get a further comment from? Jill Stein?
The crooked Trump Foundation is yet another example of the lawless alternate universe that the economic elite live in.
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 3, 2016
Ugh, Jill. We ought to be able to do better than that. Cher? Do you have a comment, Cher?
This Has Nothing 2Do With 🚽
Per se,But I Have Charitable Foundation,& KNOW It's AGAINST The LAW 4Me 2 USE The💰4 MYSELF IN ANYWAY‼️ITS WRONG2
— Cher (@cher) October 3, 2016
The guy who keeps breaking these stories is David Fahrenthold. If you don't already follow him on Twitter, maybe you should.