Questions Surround Charities That Received Donations After Holding Events at Mar-a-Lago

It may be nothing. It could be something. Regardless of whether it is or isn’t, this is just one more thing surrounding Donald Trump and his businesses that looks bad.

A new report is announcing its findings that charities that chose to have their galas at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort were rewarded with given large donations from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, afterwards.

Nearly all of the $706,000 in donations made by the Donald J. Trump Foundation in Palm Beach County since 2008 went to charities that hosted lavish fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago — the president’s highest-profile business in the county.

Tit-for-tat?

They insist that that’s not the case.

An event planner instrumental in moving one of the more popular fundraisers to Mar-a-Lago four years ago said receiving a donation from Trump was completely unexpected.

“It was a surprise,” said Chase Scott, who arranged for the Salvation Army’s gala to be moved from The Breakers in 2014.

Other factors, including availability and preference for Mar-a-Lago’s setting, are indisputable elements. Nonetheless, a Palm Beach Post review of the Trump Foundation’s tax records found a pattern — donations, typically $25,000 — to eight charities after they relocated their events to the Trump family’s private Palm Beach club. That list included the event widely considered the grandest gala of the island’s social season, the Red Cross Ball.

Back in 2015, the Red Cross received a $21,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation after relocating their annual gala to Mar-a-Lago. Records show that between 2008 and 2016 that was the only donation they received from the foundation.

So none before and none since? I’m sure there’s nothing suspicious about that.

Trump Foundation tax returns show Trump himself has not contributed his own money to his foundation since 2008. Among the biggest donors to the foundation, casino mogul Phil Ruffin, ticket broker Richard Ebers, NBC, Comedy Central and a $1 million donation from part-time Palm Beacher, Laura Perlmutter, wife of Marvel Comics CEO Ike Perlmutter.

Of the $1 million pledged to the Trump Foundation in January 2016, the target group for the charity was various veterans groups. The groups received that million later in the year.

Currently, Trump and the foundation are subject of a lawsuit, brought about by the office of the New York Attorney General.

According to the lawsuit brought on June 13, Trump and his three oldest children, Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka weren’t so much philanthropists as they were crooks, using the funds donated to the foundation to pay legal fees, promote Trump brand products, and fund Trump’s presidential campaign.

“As our investigation reveals, the Trump Foundation was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality,” said New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood in a press release. “This is not how private foundations should function and my office intends to hold the Foundation and its directors accountable for its misuse of charitable assets.”

The lawsuit would see the Donald J. Trump Foundation dissolved and he and his older children blocked from serving in leadership over any other charities in New York.

Of those charities that moved their events to Mar-a-Lago, some say the move from the Breakers to Trump’s resort had nothing to do with a donation, but rather convenience, and/or being unable to book the other venue on the night they preferred.

Another twist came after the now-infamous Charlottesville, Virginia incident, when white nationalists clashed with protesters. Trump’s reaction was to say there were fine people on both sides. Quite a few charities moved their events from Trump’s properties, in protest.

These are details that are likely not missed by Attorney General Barbara Underwood, as she continues her investigation into the activities surrounding the Donald J. Trump Foundation.