Trump used his foundation to fund guerrilla filmmaker James O’Keefe

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-funded-james-okeefe-53015c2f44b6#.9n3da4fy3

Josh Israel
Senior investigative reporter for ThinkProgress Contact me: jisrael@thinkprogress.org
2 hrs ago
Trump used his foundation to fund guerrilla filmmaker James O’Keefe
He funneled at least $10,000 to O’Keefe’s Project Veritas



In Wednesday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed that new videos proved that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had “hired people” and “paid them $1,500” to “be violent, cause fights, and do bad things” at Trump rallies.

He was referring to videos released this week by conservative activist James O’Keefe that purport to show pro-Clinton activists boasting of their efforts to bait Trump supporters into violent acts. The videos offer no evidence that Clinton or Obama were aware of or behind the alleged dirty tricks.

Still, Trump claimed the videos exposed that a violence at a March Chicago rally was a “criminal act” and that it “was now all on tape started by her.”

Trump neglected, however, to mention his own connection to the videos, released by James O’Keefe and his Project Veritas tax-exempt group. According to a list of charitable donations made by Trump‘s controversial foundation (provided to the Washington Post in April by Trump’s campaign), on May 13, 2015, it gave $10,000 to Project Veritas.

Trump, who claimed in the same debate that Hillary Clinton “shouldn’t be allowed to run” for president “based on what she did with e-mails and so many other things,” was funding a convicted criminal. O’Keefe was sentenced to three years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $1,500 fine in 2010 after taking a plea bargain following a botched “sting” attempt at the office of then-Sen. Mary Landrieu.

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https://thinkprogress.org/trump-funded-james-okeefe-53015c2f44b6#.9n3da4fy3