NATION
Friday, November 8, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Bloomberg opens door to 2020 Democratic run for president
By JULIE PACE
AP Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON
—
Michael Bloomberg, the bil-
lionaire former mayor of New
York City, is opening the door
to a 2020 Democratic pres-
idential campaign, warning
that the current field of candi-
dates is ill equipped to defeat
President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg, who initially
ruled out a 2020 run, has
not made a final decision on
whether to jump into the race.
If he were to launch a cam-
paign, it could dramatically
reshape the Democratic con-
test less than three months
before primary voting begins.
The 77-year-old has spent
the past few weeks talking
with prominent Demo-
crats about the state of the
2020 field, expressing con-
cerns about the steadiness
of former Vice President Joe
Biden’s campaign and the rise
of liberal Sen. Massachusetts
Elizabeth Warren, according
to people with knowledge of
those discussions. In recent
days, he took steps to keep his
options open, including mov-
ing to get on the primary bal-
lot in Alabama ahead of the
state’s Friday filing deadline.
In a statement on Thurs-
day, Bloomberg adviser
Howard Wolfson said the for-
mer mayor believes Trump
“represents an unprecedented
threat to our nation” and must
be defeated.
“But Mike is increas-
ingly concerned that the cur-
rent field of candidates is not
well positioned to do that,”
Wolfson said.
Bloomberg’s moves come
as the Democratic race enters
a crucial phase. Biden’s
front-runner status has been
vigorously challenged by
Warren and Vermont Sen.
Bernie Sanders, who are flush
with cash from small-dollar
donors. But both are viewed
by some Democrats as too
Judge fines Trump
$2 million for misusing
charity foundation
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A judge
Thursday ordered President
Donald Trump to pay $2 mil-
lion to an array of charities as
a fine for misusing his own
charitable foundation to fur-
ther his political and business
interests.
New York state Judge Sali-
ann Scarpulla imposed the
penalty after the president
admitted to a series of abuses
outlined in a lawsuit brought
against him last year by the
New York attorney general’s
office.
Among other things,
Trump acknowledged in a
legal filing that he allowed his
presidential campaign staff to
coordinate with the Trump
Foundation in holding a fund-
raiser for veterans during the
run-up to the 2016 Iowa cau-
cuses. The event was designed
“to further Mr. Trump’s politi-
cal campaign,” Scarpulla said.
In a defiant statement
issued Thursday evening,
though, Trump suggested he
was neither sorry nor in the
wrong.
“I am the only person I
know, perhaps the only per-
son in history, who can give
major money to charity
(19M), charge no expense,
and be attacked by the politi-
cal hacks in New York State,”
he wrote.
He assailed a series of
Democratic attorneys gen-
eral of New York who were
involved with the suit, saying
they should have spent their
time investigating the Clinton
Foundation.
“It has been 4 years of
politically motivated harass-
ment,” Trump said.
Trump’s foundation will
be dissolved and its $1.7 mil-
lion in remaining funds will
be given to other nonprofits,
under agreements reached
by Trump’s lawyers and the
attorney general’s office.
As part of those agree-
ments, made public Thursday,
the two sides left it up to the
judge to decide what penalty
Trump should pay.
The settlement was an
about-face for Trump. He had
tweeted, “I won’t settle this
case!” when it was filed in
June 2018.
Trump’s fine and the
charity’s funds will be split
evenly among eight orga-
nizations, including City-
meals on Wheels, the United
Negro College Fund and the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum.
Attorney General Leti-
tia James welcomed the reso-
lution of the case as a “major
victory in our efforts to pro-
tect charitable assets and hold
accountable those who would
abuse charities for personal
gain.”
“No one is above the law
— not a businessman, not
a candidate for office, and
not even the President of the
United States,” said James, a
Democrat.
The president admitted,
among other things, to arrang-
ing for the charity to pay
$10,000 for a 6-foot portrait
of him. He also agreed to pay
back $11,525 in foundation
funds that he spent on sports
memorabilia and champagne
at a charity gala.
Trump also accepted
restrictions on his involve-
ment in other charitable orga-
nizations. His three eldest
children, who were members
of the foundation’s board,
must undergo mandatory
training on the duties of those
who run charities.
Charities are barred from
getting involved in political
campaigns, but in weighing
the Iowa fundraiser, Scarpulla
gave Trump credit for making
good on his pledge to give $2.8
million that his charity raised
to veterans’ organizations.
Instead of fining him that
amount, as the attorney gen-
eral’s office wanted, the judge
trimmed it to $2 million and
rejected a demand for punitive
damages and interest.
The Trump Foundation
said it was pleased by those
decisions, claiming that the
judge “recognized that every
penny ever raised by the
Trump Foundation has gone
to help those most in need.”
Trump Foundation lawyer
Alan Futerfas said the non-
profit has distributed approx-
imately $19 million over the
past decade, including $8.25
million of the president’s own
money, to hundreds of chari-
table organizations.
At the time of the Iowa
fundraiser, Trump was feud-
ing with then-Fox News
anchor Megyn Kelly and
refusing to participate in the
network’s final Republican
presidential primary debate
before the Iowa caucuses.
Instead, he held a rally at
the same time as the debate
at which he called on people
to donate to veterans’ char-
ities. The foundation acted
as a pass-through for those
contributions.
James said the evidence of
banned coordination between
campaign officials and the
foundation included emails
exchanged with then-Trump
campaign manager Corey
Lewandowski.
In one email, a Trump
company vice president asked
Lewandowski for guidance
on precisely how to distribute
the money raised.
Trump also admitted in
the agreements to directing
that $100,000 in foundation
money be used to settle legal
claims over an 80-foot flag-
pole he had built at his Mar-
a-Lago resort in Palm Beach,
Florida, instead of paying
the expense out of his own
pocket.
In addition, the foundation
paid $158,000 to resolve a law-
suit over a prize for a hole-in-
one contest at a Trump-owned
golf course, and $5,000 for
ads promoting Trump’s hotels
in the programs for charita-
ble events. Trump admitted
these transactions were also
improper.
As part of the settlement,
Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed
the Trump Foundation for the
cost of the portrait.
AP Photo/John Locher, File
In this Feb. 26, 2019, file photo, former New York City May-
or Michael Bloomberg speaks at a news conference at a gun
control advocacy event in Las Vegas. Bloomberg has opened
the door to a potential presidential run, saying the Demo-
cratic field is “not well positioned” to defeat Trump.
liberal to win in a general
election faceoff with Trump.
Bloomberg, a Republi-
can-turned-independent who
registered as a Democrat last
year, has flirted with a pres-
idential run before but ulti-
mately backed down, includ-
ing in 2016. He endorsed
Hillary Clinton in that race
and, in a speech at the Dem-
ocratic Party convention,
pummeled Trump as a con
who has oversold his business
successes.
Bloomberg plunged his
efforts — and his money —
into gun control advocacy
and climate change initia-
tives. He again looked seri-
ously at a presidential bid
earlier this year, traveling to
early voting states and con-
ducting extensive polling,
but decided not to run in part
because of Biden’s perceived
strength.
With immense personal
wealth, Bloomberg could
quickly build out a robust
campaign operation across
the country. Still, his advis-
ers acknowledge that his late
entry to the race could make
competing in states like Iowa
and New Hampshire, which
have been blanketed by can-
didates for nearly a year, diffi-
cult. Instead, they previewed
a strategy that would focus
more heavily on the March
3 “Super Tuesday” contests,
including in delegate-rich
California.
Some Democrats were
skeptical there would be a
groundswell of interest in the
former New York mayor.
“There are smart and
influential people in the
Democratic Party who think
a candidate like Bloomberg is
needed,” said Jennifer Palm-
ieri, who advised Clinton’s
2016 campaign. “But there is
zero evidence that rank-and-
file voters in the early states
of Iowa and New Hampshire
feel the same.”
Still, others credited
Bloomberg with taking on
“some of America’s big-
gest challenges” and finding
success.
“While this is not an
endorsement,
Michael
Bloomberg is a friend and I
admire his track record as a
successful business leader
and mayor who finds prac-
tical solutions to some of
America’s biggest chal-
lenges, from creating good
jobs to addressing the opioid
crisis and fighting for com-
mon-sense gun safety,” said
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Rai-
mondo, a Democrat.
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