A New York state judge today denied a request by attorneys for President Trump to throw out a lawsuit alleging that Trump and his family violated charity laws with the management of their personal foundation.
Justice Saliann Scarpulla sided with New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood in allowing the case to continue, saying it was fair for the attorney general to argue that the president used the Donald J. Trump Foundation to advance his campaign.
Attorney Alan Futerfas, who represents Trump and his three eldest children, had argued that the president was acting in his individual capacity — not on behalf of the foundation — in hosting a televised fundraiser for veterans and allowing his campaign staff to dictate what groups received donations.
But the allegations, Scarpulla wrote in her decision, “show that Mr. Trump was acting in both of his capacities as campaign candidate and president of the Foundation.”
In her decision, Scarpulla ruled that a sitting president can face a civil lawsuit in state court for actions not taken in his official capacity.
That ruling puts Scarpulla in agreement with another recent ruling against Trump, a decision in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice.
It is also in line with the US Supreme Court’s 1997 ruling concerning President Bill Clinton in response to Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit.
In a statement Friday, Underwood applauded the decision, saying that the “Trump Foundation functioned as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”