A New York judge has ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million for misusing funds from his charity, The Donald J Trump Foundation to finance his 2016 political campaign.

Prosecutors had accused the foundation which closed down in 2018 of working as ‘little more than a cheque book’ for Mr. Trump’s interests.

Judge Saliann Scarpulla ruled that charities such as the one Trump and his three eldest children headed cannot engage in politics.

The judge held that  Trump had ‘breached his fiduciary duty’ by allowing funds raised for United States veterans to be used for the Iowa primary election in 2016.

“I direct Mr. Trump to pay the $2,000,000 which would have gone to the Foundation if it were still in existence,” she wrote, adding it must be paid by Mr. Trump himself and should go to eight charities he has no relationship to.

She also directed that Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump who were also directors of the Trump Foundation must undergo mandatory training ‘on the duties of officers and directors of charities’.

Trump has however condemned the ruling, insisting that ‘every penny’ raised by the foundation went to charity.

“I am the only person I know, perhaps the only person in history who can give major money to charity ($19m), charge no expense and be attacked by the political hacks in New York State,” Trump wrote in a statement on Twitter.

He also accused New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, who initiated the civil lawsuit following an investigation into the Trump Foundation by the Washington Post in 2016 of ‘deliberately mischaracterizing this settlement for political purposes’.

Ms. James had alleged that Trump had admitted to personally misusing funds at the Trump Foundation, asking the judge to ban the president from ever running a charity organization again.