NEW: Here's the portrait that @realDonaldTrump bought for $20,000, and paid for with money earmarked for charity. Story coming soon... pic.twitter.com/OzCZQBhOsE — David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) November 1, 2016 
 
 According to previous reporting by the Washington Post , the Trump Foundation paid $20,000 for the painting in 2007 during an auction at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. 
 
 The artist, Michael Israel, released a photo of the portrait, according to the Post. Israel painted the portrait just before it was auctioned off at Mar-a-Lago. 
 
 Melania Trump originally placed a $10,000 bid on the painting, which she later doubled. But the check that paid for the painting came from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, rather than either of the Trumps' personal accounts. 
 
 According to tax experts contacted by the Post, Trump may have broken "self-dealing" laws if he placed the portrait in one of his residences or business locations. 
 
 While the exact location of the portrait is unknown, Israel's former manager told the Post that Melania Trump asked that the painting be sent to Trump's West Chester, N.Y., golf club. 
 
 The Republican nominee has made other questionable purchases using funds from his charity, including another portrait of himself he paid $10,000 for in 2014. 
 
 In September, a television anchor for Univision booked a stay at Trump National Doral Miami, confirming reports that the portrait was hanging on a wall at the club. ||||| 
 
 Speed painter Michael Israel, white shirt, poses at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida in front of a painting he made of Trump. Trump spent $20,000 that belonged to his charity — the Donald J. Trump Foundation — to buy the six-foot-tall portrait. (Michael Israel) 
 
 In 2007, Donald Trump bought a six-foot-tall portrait of himself at a fundraiser auction, and paid with $20,000 from his namesake charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation. 
 
 Now, at last, we can see what he got for his money. 
 
 On Tuesday, artist Michael Israel -- the "speed painter" who painted the portrait of Trump -- released the first public photos of the portrait. Israel painted the piece in just five or six frenetic minutes, during a charity gala at Trump's own Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. 
 
 Washington Post reporter David A. Fahrenthold has been searching for evidence of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's charitable giving for months. (Peter Stevenson,Julio Negron/The Washington Post) 
 
 Afterward, Israel auctioned the portrait off. Trump's wife Melania won the auction, with a bid of $10,000. Then the auctioneer convinced her to double it. Half of the proceeds went to Israel, the painter, and half went to the charity that hosted the event, then called the Children's Place at Home Safe. The charity is now called HomeSafe. It helps children and families harmed by domestic violence. 
 
 When a check came, however, it wasn't Trump or his wife who actually paid for the painting. Instead, it was Trump's charity -- which, even by that time, was largely filled with money from other donors, and not from Trump himself. 
 
 Tax experts say that if Trump hung the painting at one of his homes or businesses, he may have violated laws against "self-dealing." Those laws prohibit charity leaders from using money from their nonprofits to buy things for themselves, or for their businesses. 
 
 In recent weeks, The Washington Post has reported other instances in which Trump may have violated those rules. He used $258,000 from the foundation to pay off legal settlements that involved his for-profit businesses. He spent $12,000 from the charity's coffers to buy a football helmet signed by then-Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. 
 
 And he spent $10,000 to buy another portrait of himself in 2014. In that case, Trump paid $10,000 for the portrait. It was later found hanging on the wall of a sports bar at Trump's Doral golf resort. A spokesman for Trump, Boris Epshteyn, said later that Trump's business was actually just "storing" the portrait, on the charity's behalf. Tax experts said that does not cut it. 
 
 
 
 Speed painter Michael Israel, left, poses with Donald and Melania Trump in 2007 at the event where Trump bought the portrait. (Michael Israel) 
 
 Even sight unseen, the $20,000 portrait has been seized on by Democrats as evidence that Trump was misusing his charity's money. 
 
 In September, shortly after The Post first described the $20,000 portrait, President Obama mocked the purchase during a campaign stop. 
 
 “You want to debate foundations and charities?” Obama said, comparing the Trump Foundation to the Clinton Foundation, associated with Democrat Hillary Clinton and her family. “One candidate’s family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate’s foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot-tall painting of himself.” 
 
 The Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold explains what we've learned about Donald Trump's character from the way he treats his charitable giving, and the way he talks about charity. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) 
 
 Clinton herself used a similar line of attack in the third and final presidential debate. 
 
 "I'd be happy to compare what we do with the Trump Foundation, which took money from other people and bought a six-foot portrait of Donald," Clinton said. "I mean, who does that? It just was astonishing." 
 
 The photos that Israel provided Tuesday were taken at the 2007 event itself. They do not reveal where the portrait is now. Trump's campaign spokesmen have declined to answer questions about its current whereabouts, or whether Trump found a charitable use for it. 
 
 But in September, a former assistant to Israel provided a clue. Jody Young, the painter’s former manager, said that after the auction, he was told by Melania Trump to ship the painting to Trump's golf club in Westchester County, N.Y. 
 
 Her plan was “to hang it in either the boardroom or the conference room of the club,” Young said.
– A tweet from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold offered a first glimpse to the masses Tuesday of something that's long been reported but not yet seen: the portrait of Donald Trump that Trump bought for $20,000 using money meant for his Trump Foundation charity. Artist Michael Israel, a "speed painter" who the Post says whipped up the 6-foot-tall depiction in "five or six frenzied minutes" during a 2007 charity gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, released the public pics of the painting for the first time Tuesday. Melania Trump initially bid $10,000 during the event's auction, then was cajoled into doubling that; half the proceeds went to Israel, half to the children's charity the event was being held for. And those well versed in tax law say if that now-elusive painting is hanging in either one of Trump's homes or businesses, he could be breaking "self-dealing" laws. The only hint as to where the painting may be: Israel's former manager, who revealed in September that he was told by Melania to send the painting to a Trump golf club in Westchester, NY, where she planned to display it in "the boardroom or the conference room." The Hill notes that Trump paid $10,000 funneled from the Trump Foundation for another portrait of himself in 2004, with an eyewitness saying that painting is on display in Trump's National Doral Miami resort. (Meanwhile, a nude painting of Trump has caused quite a ruckus.)