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(Bloomberg) The Donald J. Trump Foundation, the charitable organization of the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said it had made an error in making and failing to disclose a $25,000 donation to a political group in 2013.
Donald Trump
(Photo: Andrew Harrer/
Bloomberg)
The statement comes a day after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, raised questions about the donation in a complaint sent to the Internal Revenue Service. Tax law bars charitable foundations like Trump’s foundation from engaging in political activities, including contributing money to candidates and PACs. CREW also noted that the donation was not properly disclosed on the foundation’s tax return.
“My understanding is the foundation has been in touch with the IRS and proper adjustments are being made,” Hope Hicks, spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said in an e-mail.
According to Hicks, a clerk at Trump’s foundation confused And Justice For All, a Florida political committee controlled by attorney general Pam Bondi, with a Salt Lake City, Utah-based charitable organization with the same name. As a result, the employee paid the donation from an account for the charitable institution.
An outside accounting firm that prepares tax forms for the foundation then confused And Justice For All with a Wichita, Kansas-based nonprofit called Justice For All, Hicks said. The firm then erroneously reported that the donation had gone to the wrong group.
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No, generally a lower level employee fills out a deposit slip of checks received for the day or week or month, deposits it and that’s the end of it. You think the Attorney General with other more important duties, looks at each check and tries to determine whether it’s from a foundation that’s limited to charity or perhaps set up for other projects or purposes/?
Having started out as a bookkeeper in my 20’s and working for various types of businesses and non profit organizations, then working myself up to a CPA, the Trump Foundation’s explanation and the error would be easy to do and is done often, not intentionally but just because people down the line don’t know. Yes, yes, yes, I know, some will do it intentionally but Trump, constantly being audited by IRS, doubtful his group would do it intentionally.