Trump’s misuse of charity costs him $2M

A New York state judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million in damages to nonprofit groups Wednesday after the president admitted misusing money raised by the Donald J. Trump Foundation to promote his presidential bid, pay off business debts and purchase a portrait of himself for one of his hotels.

The damage award brought an end to a legal battle over the foundation, of which giving patterns and management became a flashpoint during Trump’s run for office in 2016. New York’s attorney general had filed suit last year accusing Trump and his family of using the foundation as an extension of his businesses and his presidential campaign.

The settlement, which was finalized last month and announced Wednesday in the judge’s order, included a detailed admission of misconduct that is rare for the president.

Among Trump’s admissions:

The charity gave his campaign complete control over disbursing the $2.8 million the foundation had raised at a fundraiser for veterans in Iowa in January 2016, only days before the state’s presidential nominating caucuses. The fundraiser, he acknowledged, was in fact a campaign event.

The president also admitted to using the foundation to settle the legal obligations of companies he owned. And he acknowledged that the foundation purchased the $10,000 portrait of Trump, which was ultimately displayed at one of his Florida hotels.

Once billed as the charitable arm of the president’s financial empire, the Trump Foundation closed its doors in December, six months after the attorney general’s office sued.

In her ruling Wednesday, Justice Saliann Scarpulla of state Supreme Court in Manhattan found Trump had “breached his fiduciary duty” by using the foundation to advance his business and political interests.

The final details of the settlement were worked out between the current New York state attorney general, Letitia James, and Trump’s lawyers Oct. 1.

Under its terms, Trump’s lawyers agreed to give the Trump Foundation’s remaining assets of $1.7 million to a group of charities that have no connection to the president or his family, including the Children’s Aid Society, the United Negro College Fund and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The $2 million in damages Scarpulla awarded, which were akin to a fine, were to be paid to those same groups.