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The most potentially damning allegation involved then-candidate Trump’s fundraiser that he staged instead of participating in a primary debate in Iowa in January 2016. The attorney general’s office said it unearthed an email from then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski dictating the timing, amounts and recipients of grants.

The lawsuit said “at least five $100,000 grants were made to groups in Iowa in the days immediately before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.”

\"PHOTO:
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
PHOTO: Donald Trump Jr., along with siblings Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, take part in the roll call in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the second day of the Republican National Convention, July 19, 2016, in Cleveland.
>

In a statement, the Trump Foundation said, “This is politics at its very worst. The Foundation has donated over $19 million to worthy charitable causes – more than it even received. The President himself – or through his companies - has contributed more than $8 million. The reason the Foundation was able to donate more than it took in is because it had little to no expenses. This is unheard of for a charitable foundation. The Foundation currently has $1.7 million remaining which the NYAG has been holding hostage for political gain.

\"This is unconscionable – particularly because the Foundation previously announced its intention to dissolve more than a year and a half ago. The prior NYAG, who was recently forced to resign from office in disgrace, made it his stated mission to use this matter to not only advance his own political goals, but also for his own political fundraising. The acting NYAG’s recent statement that battling the White House is ‘the most important work [she] have ever done’ shows that such political attacks will continue unabated.”

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