New York AG doesn't show as much interest in Clinton Foundation as Trump charity

Earlier this week Allahpundit reported on the loud and proud hammer which New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought down on Donald Trump’s charitable foundation (the Trump Foundation) in the Empire State. A cease and desist order was issued, letting everyone know that Trump was most definitely not following the rules and that there was something fishy going on. Fair enough, I suppose. The rules are the rules after all, and if you don’t follow them you need to be brought into compliance.

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But as Sarah Westwood reported at the Washington Examiner yesterday, Schneiderman didn’t seem to express as much interest in similar paperwork shortcomings on the part of Hillary Clinton’s charitable activities taking place under his watch. Instead, they were allowed to simply refile some forms and get on with business as usual.

Clinton Foundation officials quietly refiled three years of tax-related forms this week after the New York attorney general acknowledged the charity had failed to disclose all of its donors in accordance with state law.

Two entities operating within the Clintons’ sprawling philanthropic network — the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Clinton Global Initiative — submitted supplementary financial disclosures for different years between 2012 and 2014 while denying Tuesday that the attorney general’s office had asked them to do so.

“The Clinton Foundation is properly registered to solicit funds under Article 7A, which requires organizations to register before they solicit funds in New York,” said Ricardo Castro, general counsel for the Clinton Foundation.

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This is yet more evidence of the absolute partisan joke which Albany politics has become and now it’s impacting the race for the White House. The huge “scandal” regarding the Trump Foundation centers on their failure to register with a particular government bureau, not some deep, money laundering conspiracy. Once the oversight came to light, Schneiderman could have easily sent them a letter reminding them to correct the error, file their registration form and get on with their business. Instead, he chose to shut them down and hold a press conference.

But when it came to light that certain financial disclosures may not have been filed by the Clinton Foundation they were allowed to simply slip a few forms in the mail and continue operations. Should we be surprised? Not in the least. Schneiderman is a political animal with tremendous influence in the state Democratic Party and is widely reported to have his eyes on bigger things when his stint as AG is finished. He’s a Clinton donor and willing surrogate for her when asked to comment on the election. He’s also shown remarkably little interest in the various scandals embroiling the office of his boss, Governor Andrew Cuomo. If it weren’t for the diligent work of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara we probably wouldn’t know much of anything about Cuomo’s activities and there certainly wouldn’t be multiple investigations into his financial affairs underway right now.

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That entire episode with the Trump Foundation was a political stunt. At that point, nobody should take anything coming out of Eric Schneiderman’s office seriously.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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