In 2007, Donald Trump spent $20,000 that belonged to his charity — the Donald J. Trump Foundation — to buy a six-foot-tall portrait of himself during a fundraiser auction at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
That purchase was reported Sunday by The Washington Post. Since then, the portrait has been the center of a mystery: What did Trump do with the painting after he bought it?
If Trump did not give the painting to a charity — or find a way to use it for charitable purposes — he may have violated IRS rules against “self-dealing,” which prohibit nonprofit leaders from spending charity money on themselves.
On Wednesday, a new clue emerged. A former production manager for the portrait’s painter told The Post that he had shipped the painting — at the request of Trump’s wife, Melania — to Trump National Golf Club Westchester in
Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Jody Young, the painter’s former manager, said that at the time he had spoken directly to Melania Trump about how the painting would be framed and displayed.
Her plan was “to hang it in either the boardroom or the conference room of the club,” Young said.
It is still unclear where the painting is now, or how long — if any time at all — it was on display at the private golf club. But tax experts say that an arrangement like the one described by Young could violate Internal Revenue Service rules.
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of course that pos bought a painting of himself and hung it at his golf club ... it's all about him, everything is about him
**** him.
