President-elect Donald Trump has said he will axe his charitable foundation to eliminate conflicts of interest before taking office next month.

The news comes amid an investigation into whether some of the charity foundation's spending benefited Mr Trump's presidential campaign.

Mr Trump said in a statement that he has directed lawyers to begin the dissolution of the Donald J Trump Foundation.

He said that it operated "at essentially no cost for decades, with 100% of the money going to charity".

"The foundation has done enormous good works over the years in contributing millions of dollars to countless worthy groups, including supporting veterans, law enforcement officers and children," he said.


"I will be devoting so much time and energy to the presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world.

"I don't want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest."

Image: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating the Trump Foundation

Mr Trump said he will pursue philanthropic efforts in other ways, but went into no more details.

The Democratic National Committee criticised Mr Trump for what it called "a wilted fig leaf to cover up his remaining conflicts of interest and his pitiful record of charitable giving".

A 2015 tax return posted on the non-profit monitoring website GuideStar shows the foundation acknowledged it had used money or assets in violation of Internal Revenue Service regulations, not only during 2015, but in previous years.

Those regulations prohibit self-dealing by the charity.

That is defined as using its money or assets to benefit Mr Trump, his family, his companies or contributors to the foundation.

The tax filing doesn't provide details on the violations.

Whether Mr Trump benefited from the foundation has been the subject of an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Amy Spitalnick, press secretary for Mr Schneiderman's office, said that the foundation "cannot legally dissolve" until the investigation is complete.

The charitable foundation was ordered to immediately stop fundraising in New York just weeks before the general election in November.