David A. Fahrenthold - Uncovering Trump: The Truth Behind Donald Trumps Charitable Giving

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Copyright 2017 by The Washington Post
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First Diversion Books edition April 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63576-158-0

David A. Fahrenthold is a political reporter for the Washington Posts national staff. He has worked for the Post since 2000, when he arrived as a summer intern on the city desk. Since then, Fahrenthold has covered the D.C. police, the environment, New England, Congress, federal bureaucracy, and presidential and Congressional elections. During the 2016 election, Fahrenthold wrote extensively about Donald Trumps unfulfilled promises to donate to charity and about the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a charity run by the then-candidate that appeared to violate federal rules by using its money to buy large portraits of Trump, and to pay off the legal settlements of Trumps businesses. He also revealed the existence of a 2005 video, taken during a taping of Access Hollywood, in which Trump made extremely lewd comments about groping women.

For his 2016 campaign reporting, Fahrenthold was honored with The Posts first annual Ben Bradlee Award, a George Polk Award for Political Reporting from Long Island University and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting. He is a native of Houston, Texas, and a 2000 graduate of Harvard University. He now lives in Washington with his wife, Elizabeth Lewis, and his daughters Alexandra, 4, and Stella, age 1.

By Mark Berman and David A. Fahrenthold
Dec. 24, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to shut down his charitable foundation, a decision that comes after repeated controversies over how it collected and disbursed funds.

In a statement Saturday, Trump offered no timeline for when his foundation would close down but said he had directed his attorney to take the steps needed to close it. It was not immediately clear when the foundation would be able to dissolve, given an ongoing investigation in New York.

"The Foundation has done enormous good works over the years in contributing millions of dollars to countless worthy groups, including supporting veterans, law enforcement officers and children," Trump said in the statement. "However, to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President I have decided to continue to pursue my strong interest in philanthropy in other ways."

The Donald J. Trump Foundation has come under intense scrutiny this year after a series of reports in The Washington Post detailing its practices, including cases in which Trump apparently used the charity's money to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses.

New York's attorney general has been investigating the charity after some of these reports, and a spokeswoman for that office said the foundation could not officially shut down until that probe is over.

The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete, Amy Spitalnick, the spokeswoman, said in an email Saturday.

The foundation is unusual in that it largely collects and donates money from other people. In fact, from 2009 to 2014, Trump told the Internal Revenue Service that he had given his namesake foundation no money at all. The biggest donors in recent years were Vince and Linda McMahon, the pro-wrestling moguls, who gave the Trump Foundation $5 million between 2007 and 2009. Trump recently nominated Linda McMahon to head the Small Business Administration.

Trump said Saturday that he was "very proud of the fact that the Foundation has operated at essentially no cost for decades, with 100% of the money going to charity." The Trump Foundation has no paid employees and a board of five, consisting of Trump, three of his children and a longtime Trump Organization employee. They all work on foundation business a half-hour per week, according to an IRS filing.

The president-elect added that "because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world, I dont want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest."

The foundation told the IRS it had $1.16 million in total assets by the end of 2015, the most recent tax filing available. A spokeswoman for Trump said she had no additional information Saturday regarding where any remaining money might be sent.

Trump's foundation has admitted in IRS tax filings for 2015 that it violated a prohibition against self-dealing that says nonprofit leaders cannot use their charity's funds to help themselves, their relatives or their businesses.

In these tax filings, the charity checked yes in response to a question asking whether it had transferred any income or assets to a disqualified person a description that could have meant Trump, a relative or a Trump-owned business.

Trump has not said what exactly he did to violate the rule, or what he has paid the IRS in penalty taxes as a result. The IRS has not commented when asked whether it was investigating the Trump Foundation.

Trump's charity has been prohibited from fundraising by the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D), an action that came after The Post reported that the foundation had failed to register with the state. This meant the foundation had dodged annual audits required in the state of New York.

Schneiderman's office is also investigating the Trump Foundation after reports in The Post describing apparent cases of self-dealing that date back to 2007. The Trump Foundation spent $30,000 to buy two large portraits of Trump himself, including one that was hung up in the sports bar at a Trump-owned resort. Trump also appears to have used $258,000 of his foundation's money legally earmarked for charitable purposes to settle lawsuits involving two of his for-profit clubs.

In addition, the Trump foundation gave a $25,000 gift to a campaign committee backing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) even though nonprofits like the charity are not allowed to give political gifts. That gift was made as Bondi's office was considering whether to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University. A consultant who worked on Bondi's reelection effort has said that Bondi was not aware of the complaints when she solicited the donation from Trump. Ultimately, Bondi's office did not pursue those allegations.