Thread by @commondefense

Fun Fact: one of the disbursements Trump made in an Iowa was to a supposed “Veteran Service dog” charity, which has only ever given a dog to Sarah Palin, and which is run by a GOP political operative with a felony conviction for charity fraud.

ag.ny.gov/press-release/…

Following #VetsVsHate holding a protest outside of Trump Tower in May 2016, calling out @realDonaldTrump for using Veterans as props for racism and bigotry while lying about having donated to Veteran charities, Trump was forced to donate the missing money. /2

Trump held a press conference in Trump Tower where (along with commenting on Harambe the gorilla, calling a journalist a “sleeze,” and attacking the Veterans protesting outside) he announced where he’d donated the missing money.

$100k went to the “Puppy Jake Foundation.” 3/

The Puppy Jake Foundation supposedly trains and provides service dogs to veterans.

One problem: they aren’t accredited to train service dogs.

That means they can’t provide service dogs. Just... regular dogs. 4/
prosthetics.va.gov/ServiceAndGuid…

But dogs are still good right?

Well as it turns out, there’s no evidence the Puppy Jake Foundation has actually provided any veterans with any dogs, service or otherwise. 5/

The one person the Puppy Jake Foundation *has* definitely given a dog to is... wait for it... Sarah Palin.

Specifically Sarah Palin’s son Trig. 6/
servicedogfp.blogspot.com/2015/01/sarah-…

So what Trump sees as “donating money to veteran charities” is actually buying Sarah Palin’s son a dog in order to hold a political stunt in Iowa. 7/

There’s more. The Puppy Jake Foundation is run by a woman named Becky Beach.

Becky Beach is not a veteran advocate, & she has no experience with service dogs.

Rather, she’s a longtime Iowa GOP political operative for the Bushes, & has a felony conviction for charity fraud. /8

(Just as a reminder, the excuse Trump gave for why he hadn’t donated the missing money until Veterans held a protest at Trump Tower was that he supposedly needed to rigorously vet the charities.) /9

Becky Beach also led another charity, the Pacific Battleship Center which governs the museum battleship the USS Iowa.

Remember the USS Iowa? Here it is.

Becky Beach and her partner in the Pacific Battleship Center faced major scrutiny for self-dealing.

It was revealed that they used their positions on the board of the charity to make the charity spend more then $800,000 hiring a PR firm that they owned, a huge ethical violation.