Just as Hillary Clinton’s foundation was thrust into the spotlight of this year’s presidential election, New York State’s attorney general announced that he, too, has been looking into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation has followed state law.
Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday that his office launched a probe into Trump’s charity “to make sure it’s complying with the laws that govern charities in New York.” Schneiderman is the same attorney general who investigated Trump University earlier this year, calling the institution “a fraud from beginning to end.”
On the Trump Foundation, “my interest in this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of nonprofits in New York state,” said Schneiderman. “And we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view.”
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For more on the Clinton Foundation, watch Coins2Day’s video:
While Schneiderman did not specify the focus of his investigation, his announcement comes as Washington Post reports suggested donations to Trump’s foundation were passed off as contributions from himself, CNN noted.
Jason Miller, a senior communications advisor for the Trump campaign, accused the Democratic attorney general of trying to influence the political race. Schneiderman is a “partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years,” Miller said in a statement. “This is nothing more than another left-wing hit job designed to distract from Crooked Hillary Clinton’s disastrous week.”
Trump has accused Hillary Clinton and officials of her foundation of giving donors special access to the State Department.
Schneiderman on CNN Tuesday only said his office had “had correspondence” with the Trump Foundation.
“We’ve inquired into it,” he said. “I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference.”
