What did Donald Trump do today?

He claimed his sons had nothing to do with a charity event featuring them organized by a charitable foundation they started last week.

Yesterday, an ad for a Jan. 21 event hosted by the Opening Day Foundation was leaked. Trump's office refused to comment, but referred reporters to the event's publicist, who confirmed its legitimacy. Donors at the $500,000 and $1,000,000 level were to be granted meetings with Trump and/or his sons. Donald Jr. and Eric Trump will run their father's businesses and play an ambiguous but substantial role in his incoming administration.

A Trump spokesperson claimed today that the Trump sons "are not involved in any capacity" with the event and noted that the brochure had been revised to avoid any mention of access to Trump or his sons. The spokesperson called the brochure "merely an initial concept" that had been drafted without the Trump family's knowledge or consent.

However, it was revealed today that Donald Jr. and Eric Trump are created the foundation last week and are half its board of directors, and that the "initial concept" had already been circulating amongst prospective donors for several days.

What's so bad about this?

• It's bad if a president's influence is for sale through his children.

• It's bad even if it just looks like a president's influence is for sale through his children.

• Even if fictional "explanations" for mistakes are sometimes necessary in politics, they shouldn't insult the intelligence.