As we all know, since her husband Donald Trump left office, former First Lady Melania Trump had continued to flog her ‘Be Best’ initiative and to tout her philanthropic endeavors. Now, a new report in the New York Times has questioned who exactly is receiving those charitable donations, prompting an angry response from Melania herself.
The newspaper ran a story on the Trumps’ money-making activities since their departure from the White House.
As we previously reported, this has included Melania selling NFTs of a drawing of her eyes, and auctioning off one of her old hats. Melania pledged an undisclosed proportion of these sales would go to charity. As for how much … well, your guess is as good as ours.
Related: Melania’s hat auction ended up being a money-losing crap out
She recently announced she was selling tickets for a “high tea” event in Naples, Florida this April. Organizers, Whip Fundraising, say the event will be “benefit Fostering the Future, a Be Best initiative,” which gives computer science scholarships to those aging out of the foster care system.
Ticket prices range from $3,000 up to $50,000 for a VIP experience. Once again, it’s not known what proportion will go to charity. However, this isn’t why it’s raising eyebrows.
According to state laws in Florida, any organization soliciting donations in the state must be registered. There is no charity with the name “Fostering the Future” or “Be Best” registered in Florida.
The Florida agency that oversees charitable fund-raising confirmed to the NY Times that it had opened an inquiry into what was going on here.
The NY Times was picked up by RawStory, and its story was retweeted by Melania herself with an angry response, stressing that all the proper documentation was “in the works.”
“Dishonest reporting at it again,” she said. “Everything has been done lawfully, & all documents are in the works. Read with caution—typical corrupt media.
“We are working w/Bradley Impact Fund, a Donor-Advised Fund, to select charities that will receive the donations to foster children.”
Dishonest reporting at it again. Everything has been done lawfully, & all documents are in the works. Read with caution-typical corrupt media.
We are working w/Bradley Impact Fund, a Donor-Advised Fund, to select charities that will receive the donations to foster children. https://t.co/5ZKr5SwIZz
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) February 12, 2022
Related: Melania has a new grift and it’s even more grifty than her last one
On its website, the Bradley Impact Fund describes its visions as, “a robust, national community of informed donors and partners who support and fund organizations that restore, strengthen, and protect America’s founding principles and institutions.”
According to The Intercept, which examined its tax filings, the Fund, “has given money to groups that promote election fraud conspiracies and sought to overturn President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.”
Melania’s “in the works” defense did not go down well on Twitter.
“Florida requires any organization that raises charitable contributions in the state to register. No charity with the name ‘Fostering the Future’ or ‘Be Best’ is registered in Florida,”
So u r confirming, got it 👍
— Chargé d’Affaires (@BrandiAtkinson) February 12, 2022
TRANSLATION: “I broke the law and was acting illegally but am trying to fix it retroactively now that I’ve been caught. So I’ll blame the media when it’s my fault, just like Donald always does.”
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) February 12, 2022
Pretty sure it’s required to get those documents “in the works” beforehand. Kind of like getting a driver’s license and insurance before you start driving a car. 🤷🏻♀️
— Chi Chi Plantagenet (@barbelle123) February 12, 2022
It would “be best” if the Trumps stayed away from all charity work.
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) February 12, 2022
“In the works” is code for crap I got caught.
— M. Resisted (@AngryFedupVtr) February 12, 2022
Legit charities don’t say their paperwork is “in the works” — they do it all very transparently and get IRS and state documents in order so as to demonstrate their bona fides. If you don’t have 501(c)3 status and a state tax number, you’re not doing the bare minimum.
— Devin Nunes’ Lawyer (@MarylouMFerrara) February 13, 2022
And you”ll see that they will be beautiful and tremendous…documents like no one has ever seen before
— Dbgreatlakes (@dbgreatlakes) February 12, 2022
Have the Trumps yet set up an eBay or charity account to sell the classified documents stolen from the White House?
— Outspoken™️ (@Out5p0ken) February 12, 2022
dougie
S’pose Ms. Melania’s involved in yet another white-wing right-wing grift to extract cash from other folks? Nah! Say it ain’t so.
Cam
Melania says ““Dishonest reporting at it again,” she said. “Everything has been done lawfully, & all documents are in the works. Read with caution—typical corrupt media.”
Except……if the charity was a legitimate charity it would already be registered with the state, which it isn’t. So what it sounds like Melania is NOW doing is hastily trying to file paperwork to create a fake charity and get it registered. Criminal
Cam
Another great Melania story, when she tried to auction off her hat and few other things and expected to get $180,000 for them, nobody was bidding and all of a sudden a bid for the asking price popped up. Since the online bidding has to have certain aspects as public, when reports dug to find out who bought the hate, it turned out that “The Hat was purchased by the person who put it up for auction.”
LOL!!! So the Republican Trump supporters are not rich enough to bid on it, and the former money people backing Trump are refusing to throw money at his family anymore, so Melania had to pretend to buy back her own stuff to not look like a fool, and then got exposed anyway!!
GlobeTrotter
The Trumps are the only filthy rich billionaires I know of, who go to such desperate lengths to raise money for their own benefit. Which of course can only mean one thing: they’re not as rich as they pretend to be. As a matter of fact, I’m willing to bet they’re flat broke.
rangerwilcox
she’s on a kick with Be Best and Fostering the Future names. Guess using words that start with different first letters isn’t her thing.
Fahd
Another example of why there is a need for a strong free press, not only in the United States. How else to put a damper on this kind of corruption? Even if one might think that rich seniors in Naples, Florida who are willing to spend big to attend an event with Melania don’t deserve to be protected, it is the principle of the thing. Also, their money could go to worthy causes instead.
white-queer-african
I am troubled! Where are all the defenders of this ho? SammyB, BoneyM, Barry….
WHATEVER!
Jim
A grifter grifts!
P T Barnum was right. People like to be hoodwinked
garmo98
Nothing any Trump, including this one, has done is “legit”, so why should we believe her?
joverit
the foreign gold-digging escort always has to be the victim of every story
Mack
If a Trump is involved and the benefit is $3000 to $50000 per person then yeah they’ll probably donate $1 per person to the charity and the rest into their pockets.
BigJohnSF
Rules are for commoners.
Mr. Stadnick
Old hooker gets caught
Jaquelope
I’d like to add an addendum to @KrittyB419’s tweet, above : “Or flushed.”