Every year, Trump’s son Eric hosts a charity event for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to benefit kids with cancer. It’s held at his family’s golf course, which Eric has always said the charity uses for free. But on Tuesday, Forbes reported that isn’t true—President Trump “specifically commanded that the for-profit Trump Organization start billing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the nonprofit Eric Trump Foundation, according to two people directly involved.”
And while donors to the Eric Trump Foundation were told their money was going to help sick kids, more than $500,000 was re-donated to other charities, many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests, including at least four groups that subsequently paid to hold golf tournaments at Trump courses.
All of this seems to defy federal tax rules and state laws that ban self-dealing and misleading donors. It also raises larger questions about the Trump family dynamics and whether Eric and his brother, Don Jr., can be truly independent of their father.
Kinda looks like the President stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a charity for kids with cancer? https://t.co/BRUqF8jzc4
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 6, 2017
This is legal? https://t.co/LNfmDEp1L4
— David Frum (@davidfrum) June 6, 2017
It’s probably not legal. Eric Trump also appears to have been misleading the press about the issue:
Here's the question I sent @erictrump after that blockbuster @Forbes story, which indicates Eric misled me. pic.twitter.com/xh1uSPK9md
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) June 6, 2017