title:  High-Ranking Democrat DEMANDS Investigation Into Open Corruption At Trump Foundation
text: Recently, news broke that the Trump Foundation openly and blatantly broke IRS corruption rules about self-dealing. In a tax filing obtained by a watchdog group and reported on by the Washington Post, Trump s charity admits to self-dealing both recently and in past years.It s very likely Trump intends to use the powers of the presidency to enrich himself personally, and he s said as much himself.So it should come as no surprise to him that Democratic members of Congress are demanding an investigation and further paperwork related to this scandal. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), a Ranking Member in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a letter demanding additional documentation concerning the admitted self-dealing occurring at the Trump foundation. The letter reads, in part,I am writing to request additional information on the apparent admission of the Donald J. Trump Foundation to multiple instances in which the organization appears to have violated the legal prohibition against using charitable funds to benefit its leaders, their family members, or other disqualified individuals   commonly known as  self-dealing. According to press reports, the Foundation spent more than a quarter-million dollars of charitable funds to settle various lawsuits involving the President-elect s for-profit companies.The Foundation also reportedly used $20,000 of charitable funds to purchase a six-foot tall portrait of the President-elect, and at the time the Foundation was predominately funded by other donors.The Foundation also previously paid a 10% excise tax to the IRS for reportedly providing an illegal $25,000 political contribution to the campaign of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. At the time, Ms. Bondi was considering whether to investigate allegations of fraud against Trump University and decided not to pursue the case after receiving the contribution.You can read the letter in its entirely here (PDF).This doesn t paint a pretty picture. It s clear that Donald Trump believes he is above the law, and that s before he was elected president. It s up to all of us to hold him accountable for his actions by supporting the leaders calling him out for his corruption and sticking up for the American people.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images