'Red flags': Mary Trump and a lawyer highlight issues in her uncle's 'legal fund scam'

Donald Trump's own niece is going after him following reports that the former president set up a "legal fund" that didn't actually pay legal bills.

Raw Story reported on Tuesday that a legal defense fund set up to assist Trump through his numerous criminal indictments hasn't actually spent any money on legal fees, and that the largest thing it actually spent money on was a huge party at Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club.

Mary Trump, a psychologist who recently said Republicans are in for a "reckoning" with the next major election,

"The stated purpose of the fund, started by long-time Trump advisor Michael Glassner, is to help Donald with his enormous legal fees. However, it has spent ZERO dollars on legal fees. Instead, the fund’s largest expense was $18,136 for a party at Mar-a-Lago—while the rest of the money is NOT being used for its intended purpose," she wrote. "Why would a fund created by to supposedly cover legal fees instead put money directly into Donald’s pocket? What does Donald know about it?"

Mary Trump on her Substack presented the information to an attorney, Joe Gallina, and said he saw "red flags" in Trump's IRS filings.

“Non-profits like the Patriot Legal Defense Fund have a fiduciary duty to their donors to use their resources for their stated purpose," Gallina said. "This is a fundamental principle of non-profit law. If a non-profit misuses funds, it is FRAUD.”

Mary Trump noted that, "The last time a Donald-related fund faced scrutiny, people went to prison."

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"BUILD THE WALL co-founder Brian Kolfage was sentenced to four years in prison for pocketing money raised to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, after falsely promising donors all funds would go to the project," the outlet reported Wednesday. "Two other co-defendants, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, were sentenced to three and five years in prison respectively. Steve Bannon was also charged in the scheme received a last-minute pardon from Donald at the end of his term. He’ll face NY state related charges in 2024 — and Donald can’t pardon him on state charges."