Trump Foundation sued by New York
US President Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has broken state and federal laws, New York said in a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the organisation. The state attorney general sought a court order forcing its dissolution and blocking board members from serving on any not-for-profit organisation authorised by New York law.
New York’s attorney general sued US President Donald Trump, three of his children and his namesake foundation on Thursday, alleging “persistently illegal conduct” at the nonprofit, including support for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Barbara Underwood, the attorney general, asked a New York state judge to dissolve the Donald J Trump Foundation, and impose bans on Trump, his sons Donald Jr and Eric, and his daughter Ivanka from holding leadership roles in New York charities.
Underwood said her office’s 21-month investigation, begun under her predecessor Eric Schneiderman, uncovered “extensive unlawful political coordination” by the foundation with Trump’s campaign, as well as “repeated and willful self-dealing” to benefit Trump’s personal, business and political interests.
The Republican president attacked the lawsuit in a series of posts on Twitter. “The sleazy New York Democrats, and their now disgraced (and run out of town) AG Eric Schneiderman, are doing everything they can to sue me on a foundation that took in $18,800,000 and gave out to charity more money than it took in, $19,200,000,” Trump wrote. “I won’t settle this case!” The Trump Foundation issued a statement criticising the lawsuit as “politics at its very worst”.