Press. voanews.com
Donald
Trump cannot move ahead with his plan to dismantle his charitable foundation
because state prosecutors are probing whether the president-elect personally
benefited from its spending, the New York attorney general's office said
Tuesday. "The Trump foundation is still under investigation by this office
and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,'' said Amy
Spitalnick, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The
statement came after Trump announced that he wanted to dissolve the Donald J.
Trump Foundation, part of what his presidential transition team says is an
effort to erase any potential conflicts of interest before he takes office Jan.
20.
But the
foundation's inner workings have been the subject of Schneiderman's
investigation for months and could remain a thorny issue for Trump's incoming
administration. Democrats nationally have said they are ready to raise any
legal or ethical issues from Trump's global business empire during his
presidency.
Trump's
charity has admitted that it violated IRS regulations barring it from using its
money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or substantial
contributors to the foundation. The admissions by the Donald J. Trump
Foundation were in a 2015 tax filing made public after a presidential election
in which it was revealed that Trump has used the charity to settle lawsuits,
make a $25,000 political contribution and purchase items, such as a painting of
himself, that was displayed at one of his properties.
The 2015
tax filing was posted on the nonprofit monitoring website GuideStar on Nov. 18
by someone using an email address from the foundation's law firm, Morgan, Lewis
& Bockius, said GuideStar spokeswoman Jackie Enterline Fekeci. In the tax filing,
the foundation acknowledged that it used money or assets in violation of the
regulations not only during 2015, but in prior years. But the tax filing
doesn't provide details on the violations.
Schneiderman,
a Democrat, launched his investigation into the charity after reporting by The
Washington Post drew attention to some of the foundation's purchases. Trump
asserted on Twitter late Monday that his foundation was run efficiently. "The DJT Foundation, unlike most
foundations, never paid fees, rent, salaries or any expenses,'' the
president-elect tweeted. "100% of the money goes to wonderful charities.''
On
Tuesday, Trump tapped an experienced national security adviser to serve as
assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. A
statement from Trump's transition team said Thomas Bossert will advise the
president on issues related to homeland security, counterterrorism, and
cybersecurity, and he will coordinate the Cabinet's process for formulating and
executing policy. The position "is being elevated and restored to its
independent status alongside the national security adviser,'' the statement
said.
Policymakers
have long debated whether such national security jobs should operate
independently from the White House. Bossert will work closely with Trump's pick
for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Bossert is
currently president of the risk management consulting firm CDS Consulting. He
previously served as deputy assistant to the president for homeland security
under President George W. Bush.
Trump
also continued to question the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying
Monday it's just a club for people to ``have a good time,'' after the U.N.
Security Council voted last week to condemn Israeli settlements in the West
Bank and east Jerusalem,
And on
Friday, Trump warned, "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan.
20th,'' referring to the day he takes office. The decision by the Obama
administration to abstain from Friday's U.N. vote brushed aside Trump's demands
that the U.S. exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations
with Israel's leadership.
That was
only one subject Trump tackled on Twitter on Monday. In an evening post, he
wrote that he believes his election as president has boosted the economy. "The world was gloomy before I won —
there was no hope,'' he tweeted. "Now, the market is up nearly 10 percent
and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars.'' Markets are up since Trump
won the general election, although not by that much. The Standard & Poor's
500 is up about 6 percent since Election Day, while the Dow has risen more than
8 percent.
As for
holiday spending, auditing and accounting firm Deloitte projected in September
that total 2016 holiday sales were expected to exceed $1 trillion, representing
a 3.6 percent to 4.0 percent increase in holiday sales from November through
January. But that can't be credited to Trump because the projection came before
the election.
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