President-elect Donald Trump has announced he is going to dissolve his charitable foundation, "to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as president."
Trump’s transition team released a statement about shutting down the Donald J. Trump Foundation Saturday afternoon, adding that he “has directed his counsel to take the necessary steps to effectuate the dissolution.”
The move comes as Trump spends the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. He is expected to attend a Christmas Eve service Saturday night.
“The Foundation has done enormous good works over the years in contributing millions of dollars to countless worthy groups, including supporting veterans, law enforcement officers and children,” Trump said in the statement released by his transition staff. “However, to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President I have decided to continue to pursue my strong interest in philanthropy in other ways.
“I am very proud of the money that has been raised for many organizations in need, and I am also very proud of the fact that the Foundation has operated at essentially no cost for decades, with 100% of the money going to charity, but because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world, I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest,” he added.
The foundation remains under investigation by the New York attorney general, which issued it a notice of violation in September and ordered it to "cease and desist from soliciting contributions in New York," according to a news release issued at the time by the attorney general's office. That action followed a report by The Washington Post that the foundation did not have the proper certification required in New York to solicit donations.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office told The Post on Saturday that Trump's foundation "cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete."
One of Trump's sons, Eric Trump, announced this past week that he would stop raising money for his Eric Trump Foundation, which collects donations to support childhood cancer research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The president-elect's plans to dissolve the foundation were reported earlier Saturday by The New York Times.
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