Trump's 2016 fundraiser for Veterans - a look back
Back in June of 2016, I wrote about the fundraiser Donald Trump held rather than participate in a Republican primary debate. The fundraiser took place in January of that year. Recently I decided to go back over the Donald Trump Foundation's 2016 tax return (nonprofit foundations must file a Form 990 with the IRS annually). This video sums up my reaction:
Dishonest Donnie trumpeted the $5.6 million raised. What he did not talk about was that $3 million of that total came from three individuals. Himself, Phil Ruffin (who is partners with Trump and the Hilton Corporation in owning the Trump International property in Las Vegas) and Isaac Perlmutter (the record shows his wife Laura made the donation, but Trump spoke about the fact it came from Mr. Perlmutter). The website to which people were directed to make donations online shows that over $1,670,000 was raised online.
But it took time for the money to be disbursed to the veterans groups on the list he ultimately released.
According to the Form 990 on file with GuideStar.org, the Donald Trump Foundation claims to have raised $2,865,653 in 2016. That same form shows that it made grants totaling $3,023,800.
Of the total of grants that were made, $223,800 went to charities other than those focused on veterans and related issues. That leaves $2,800,000 for the veteran charities.
There are another $2,800,000 in grants that aren't on the Foundation's tax return, but are on Trump's list.
There is a note at the bottom of the return that some might believe explains this discrepancy. It reads as follows:
The Foundation received contributions for tax-exempt veterans organizations as a result of an event held by a candidate for public office. The Foundation did not incur any expenditures for the fundraiser, and the contributions received were subsequently distributed to the veterans organizations.
That doesn't jibe with the IRS instructions. They state quite clearly that the organization must reports their gross receipts for ALL sources of revenue.
Which raises the question, why was half of the money "raised" reported and half not reported? What purposes does this serve?
Why did Dishonest Donnie not fully disclose that 54% of the funds came from himself and two of his close associates?
Now what's really curious is that Dishonest Donnie's own contribution of $1,000,000 was not reported as received by the foundation. Why is that? While he wrote a personal check to the charity, did he reimburse himself from some other source?
Dishonest Donnie doesn't like anyone looking into the details of his finances. This needs some scrutiny. I know his foundation is in the process of dissolving, but something is wrong here.
Dishonest Donnie trumpeted the $5.6 million raised. What he did not talk about was that $3 million of that total came from three individuals. Himself, Phil Ruffin (who is partners with Trump and the Hilton Corporation in owning the Trump International property in Las Vegas) and Isaac Perlmutter (the record shows his wife Laura made the donation, but Trump spoke about the fact it came from Mr. Perlmutter). The website to which people were directed to make donations online shows that over $1,670,000 was raised online.
But it took time for the money to be disbursed to the veterans groups on the list he ultimately released.
Of the total of grants that were made, $223,800 went to charities other than those focused on veterans and related issues. That leaves $2,800,000 for the veteran charities.
There are another $2,800,000 in grants that aren't on the Foundation's tax return, but are on Trump's list.
There is a note at the bottom of the return that some might believe explains this discrepancy. It reads as follows:
The Foundation received contributions for tax-exempt veterans organizations as a result of an event held by a candidate for public office. The Foundation did not incur any expenditures for the fundraiser, and the contributions received were subsequently distributed to the veterans organizations.
That doesn't jibe with the IRS instructions. They state quite clearly that the organization must reports their gross receipts for ALL sources of revenue.
Which raises the question, why was half of the money "raised" reported and half not reported? What purposes does this serve?
Why did Dishonest Donnie not fully disclose that 54% of the funds came from himself and two of his close associates?
Now what's really curious is that Dishonest Donnie's own contribution of $1,000,000 was not reported as received by the foundation. Why is that? While he wrote a personal check to the charity, did he reimburse himself from some other source?
Dishonest Donnie doesn't like anyone looking into the details of his finances. This needs some scrutiny. I know his foundation is in the process of dissolving, but something is wrong here.
posted by me at 10:40 AM
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