Trump used his charity's money to pay for portrait of himself, Cohen says
President’s ex-lawyer tells Congress a fake bidder and $60,000 of Trump Foundation funds were used to buy the painting
Michael Cohen has claimed Donald Trump directed him to find someone to purchase a portrait of himself at a high society art auction. Once the stooge had bought the painting, he was paid $60,000 with money from the Trump Foundation, a charitable organization.
Cohen told the House oversight committee that Trump told him to find a straw bidder to purchase the portrait by William Quigley, with the objective being to “ensure that his portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon”.
Cohen told Congress: “Mr Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the fake bidder, despite keeping the art for himself.”
Trump also tweeted about the sale saying he had “just found out about it”.
Just found out that at a charity auction of celebrity portraits in E. Hampton, my portrait by artist William Quigley topped list at $60K
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2013
The painting was being auctioned at the ArtHamptons gala, one of the three major art events that takes place in the Hamptons each July.
This is not the first time the story about this painting has surfaced. In 2015, Dan’s Papers, a local newspaper in the Hamptons, interviewed Quigley about the sale and he revealed then that Trump had paid for the painting in person.
“He was nothing but a gentlemen,” Quigley said at the time. However, Cohen’s testimony corroborates speculation that Trump had used Trump Foundation funds to pay for it.
Bizarrely though, it’s also not the first time that Trump has used his foundation’s funds to pay for a portrait of himself at an auction. Last year, the New York attorney’s general office, which was investigating corruption at Trump’s foundation, revealed in litigation that Trump had bid $10,000 for a painting of himself at a charity auction at Mar-a-Lago.
That portrait was by the Israeli artist Havi Schanz. Trump’s lawyer claimed he was only hoping to start the bidding with a high price, but as no one else bid he ended up paying for it.
