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Rebuild With Biden!
Trump's Foundation had an unusual/dishonest arrangement all for his benefit -- as he siphoned needed funds/cash from his phony Trump Foundation.
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On October 3, 2016, the Donald J. Trump Foundation was issued a “notice of violation” and directed to cease soliciting funds. Exactly two weeks later, on October 17, Michael Cohen established Essential Consulting LLC.
There might not seem to be an immediate connection between a charitable foundation supposedly created to channel contributions to worthy causes, and a shadowy company for which Cohen solicited contributions from both US and foreign corporations. Except that both seemed to serve the same purpose: Provide Donald Trump with a means to spend other people’s money while dealing with his legal issues.
Less than two weeks after the election, while the nation was still reeling from the idea that Donald Trump had lost the popular vote, but was still headed for the White House, the Trump Foundation admitted to several instances of self-dealing. Many of those instances were detailed in the Pulitzer-winning, crowdsource-assisted reporting of David Fahrenthold. That reporting helped open up the details of Trump’s foundation, showing that it was less a charitable fund, and more a way for people to funnel money to Donald Trump to do so while taking a tax credit in exchange. Two weeks later, Trump quietly announced that he was shutting down his “charitable” foundation—though the actual closure of the Donald J. Trump Foundation did not happen for a year because of the pending legal action.
Trump treated the funds that landed in his foundation as an all-purpose slush fund. He bought football memorabilia and several genuinely hideous portraits of himself. He also made sizable political contributions out of the fund, both in New York and in Florida. But the biggest self-dealing that Trump did from his “charity” was in covering his personal legal fees. That included covering the legal expenses after Trump welched on a golf bet. The foundation had to admit this usage when it was closed down, and Trump paid penalties both for self-dealing and for using the fund for political contributions.
While this was happening, Michael Cohen was not only Donald Trump’s personal attorney, he was definitely aware of how Trump used his foundation. In fact, it may have been Cohen who encouraged Trump to tap into that fund for needed cash. And Cohen who provided Trump with an alternative when that source was closed to him.
It was certainly Cohen who personally solicited a payment to Trump after he gave a speech for a Ukrainian billionaire. The payment that Cohen demanded for that event didn’t go to the Trump Organization, it went, by instruction, to the Trump Foundation. Why Trump didn’t simply ask for a payment to himself for this arrangement remains unclear, as does most of his use of the Trump Foundation for what are clearly personal purchases. Both Cohen and Trump had to be aware that the way the foundation was being used was simply illegal.
But for some reason Donald Trump wanted a way to accept and make payments that never officially touched his business or personal accounts. The reasons for that may simply be that Trump liked the idea of burning other people’s money. However, there’s a more obvious reason—one connected to the Trump’s refusal to release his tax forms even when it seemed failure to do so might cost him the election. The most obvious possibility is simply that Donald Trump was broke. He spent money from the Trump Foundation because he didn’t have any elsewhere, and he routed money through the Trump Foundation either because his normal accounts were in some way encumbered, or he feared that they would be.
In any case, there seems to be a connection between the arrival of Michael Cohen, and the blatant use of the Trump Foundation as a general-purpose slush fund. Michael Cohen left his previous job to become a full-time attorney for Donald Trump at the end of 2006. Within weeks, Donald Trump used funds taken from the Trump Foundation to settle a legal dispute with the city of Palm Beach. It was also just after Cohen’s appearance that Trump bought a six foot portrait of himself using foundation cash. However, it’s not completely clear if these actions—the first of several instances of self-dealing admitted by the Trump Foundation—were directed by Cohen.
But if Cohen’s appearance at the Donald J. Trump Foundation and the use of that foundation to serve Trump’s needs is coincidental, that’s not the case with the other Trump foundation. Because at that other foundation, Cohen was definitely involved in helping Trump route money meant for sick kids into his own pocket.
Read more here: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/16/1763976/-Essential-Consultants-the-Trump-Foundation-and-Donald-Trump-s-need-for-ready-cash#comment_70174405
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On October 3, 2016, the Donald J. Trump Foundation was issued a “notice of violation” and directed to cease soliciting funds. Exactly two weeks later, on October 17, Michael Cohen established Essential Consulting LLC.
There might not seem to be an immediate connection between a charitable foundation supposedly created to channel contributions to worthy causes, and a shadowy company for which Cohen solicited contributions from both US and foreign corporations. Except that both seemed to serve the same purpose: Provide Donald Trump with a means to spend other people’s money while dealing with his legal issues.
Less than two weeks after the election, while the nation was still reeling from the idea that Donald Trump had lost the popular vote, but was still headed for the White House, the Trump Foundation admitted to several instances of self-dealing. Many of those instances were detailed in the Pulitzer-winning, crowdsource-assisted reporting of David Fahrenthold. That reporting helped open up the details of Trump’s foundation, showing that it was less a charitable fund, and more a way for people to funnel money to Donald Trump to do so while taking a tax credit in exchange. Two weeks later, Trump quietly announced that he was shutting down his “charitable” foundation—though the actual closure of the Donald J. Trump Foundation did not happen for a year because of the pending legal action.
Trump treated the funds that landed in his foundation as an all-purpose slush fund. He bought football memorabilia and several genuinely hideous portraits of himself. He also made sizable political contributions out of the fund, both in New York and in Florida. But the biggest self-dealing that Trump did from his “charity” was in covering his personal legal fees. That included covering the legal expenses after Trump welched on a golf bet. The foundation had to admit this usage when it was closed down, and Trump paid penalties both for self-dealing and for using the fund for political contributions.
While this was happening, Michael Cohen was not only Donald Trump’s personal attorney, he was definitely aware of how Trump used his foundation. In fact, it may have been Cohen who encouraged Trump to tap into that fund for needed cash. And Cohen who provided Trump with an alternative when that source was closed to him.
It was certainly Cohen who personally solicited a payment to Trump after he gave a speech for a Ukrainian billionaire. The payment that Cohen demanded for that event didn’t go to the Trump Organization, it went, by instruction, to the Trump Foundation. Why Trump didn’t simply ask for a payment to himself for this arrangement remains unclear, as does most of his use of the Trump Foundation for what are clearly personal purchases. Both Cohen and Trump had to be aware that the way the foundation was being used was simply illegal.
But for some reason Donald Trump wanted a way to accept and make payments that never officially touched his business or personal accounts. The reasons for that may simply be that Trump liked the idea of burning other people’s money. However, there’s a more obvious reason—one connected to the Trump’s refusal to release his tax forms even when it seemed failure to do so might cost him the election. The most obvious possibility is simply that Donald Trump was broke. He spent money from the Trump Foundation because he didn’t have any elsewhere, and he routed money through the Trump Foundation either because his normal accounts were in some way encumbered, or he feared that they would be.
In any case, there seems to be a connection between the arrival of Michael Cohen, and the blatant use of the Trump Foundation as a general-purpose slush fund. Michael Cohen left his previous job to become a full-time attorney for Donald Trump at the end of 2006. Within weeks, Donald Trump used funds taken from the Trump Foundation to settle a legal dispute with the city of Palm Beach. It was also just after Cohen’s appearance that Trump bought a six foot portrait of himself using foundation cash. However, it’s not completely clear if these actions—the first of several instances of self-dealing admitted by the Trump Foundation—were directed by Cohen.
But if Cohen’s appearance at the Donald J. Trump Foundation and the use of that foundation to serve Trump’s needs is coincidental, that’s not the case with the other Trump foundation. Because at that other foundation, Cohen was definitely involved in helping Trump route money meant for sick kids into his own pocket.
Read more here: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/16/1763976/-Essential-Consultants-the-Trump-Foundation-and-Donald-Trump-s-need-for-ready-cash#comment_70174405
