self dealer

Of course Lara Trump funneled $2 million from an animal shelter into the family business

By · 20 comments · Updated on March 16, 2021

Lara Trump‘s shot at a career in politics may have just hit a brick wall.

The former aide to Donald Trump is the latest member of the family to be accused of self-dealing by funneling money out of a charity and into her father-in-law’s business.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue is the largest no-kill dog rescue in the United States. Lara has been listed as a chairwoman for charity events for the organization since 2018, and the group’s president, Lauren Simmons, traveled to the White House for the signing of an animal cruelty bill in 2019.

According to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, Florida and obtained by the Huffington Post, the animal rescue spent a cool $225,000 to rent an event space at Mar-a-Lago for fundraiser that happened over the weekend.

Not only that, but IRS filings show the group has blown almost $1.9 on miscellaneous fundraising costs at both Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s golf course since 2014.

All the profit from that spending goes directly into Donald’s pocket.

After the story broke, Simmons put out a statement defending Lara for being “a great advocate of dogs,” as well at the non-profits use of Trump-owned properties, saying the “beauty of the venue” allowed the group to raise over $12 million.

When asked about whether that makes up for the fact that she’s putting money directly into the pockets of a man who incited a deadly insurrection, Simmons, who posted several “stop the steal” comments on social media prior to January 6, declined to answer the question.

During Saturday’s fundraiser, Trump himself made a brief appearance, where he teased  his daughter-in-law’s widely speculated run for U.S. Senate, telling the crowd she is “so incredible.”

“I hear she’s going to run for the Senate,” the ex-president said.

In a recent interview with Sean Hannity, Lara confirmed that she is mulling over a political run but that she hasn’t made any final decisions.

“But I will tell you, stay tuned, because it is certainly something that I would be honored to do,” she said.

The Trumps, of course, have a long history of siphoning money from charity groups into their own coffers. In fact, that’s why both the Trump Foundation and the Eric Trump Foundation were forced to close.

HuffPost reports:

Donald Trump over the course of his presidency funneled $8.5 million of Republican donor money into his own cash registers by directing spending by the entities he controlled, including the Republican National Committee, toward his own businesses. He similarly directed several million taxpayer dollars into his own properties by insisting on spending his frequent golf vacations there, thereby forcing Secret Service and other support staff to spend money at them, as well.

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Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.