By early 2006, Hal Goldman, who until 2011 was a Trump Organization vice president for development, said that he was in talks with the New York state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation about donating the land -- and branding it Trump.

‘Opinion’ Sought
The person familiar with the donation said he received a call from a Trump Organization employee -- whose name he couldn’t remember -- asking for a “zoning opinion” that would justify a $27.5 million value for the land. The person said he told the Trump Organization that that figure could not be justified.

Trump’s donation nevertheless was finalized and in April 2006, Republican Governor George Pataki held a ceremony at the park to announce the gift and naming, with Trump saying in an official statement issued by the governor’s office that “this is my way of trying to give back” and that he hoped the lands “will turn into one of the most beautiful parks anywhere in the world.”

The Internal Revenue Service requires filers claiming a charitable deduction worth more than $5,000 to attach to their returns a “qualified appraisal” of the contribution.

Goldman said he was "unaware" of Trump having conducted any independent appraisal of the parcels of land.

“Let me put it this way,” Goldman said. “Would you go out and get an appraisal, or would you declare what you wanted it to be worth” and then have someone justify it. “I think that’s your answer," he said.

Michael Grace, a former town attorney for Yorktown, New York, where some of the land sits, said the tracts might not have been worth even the $2.75 million Trump paid for it.

“There’s a reason they remained undeveloped,” Grace said, noting the land’s hills, mud and rocks.

In 2016, the Trump campaign released to The Associated Press and the Post a 93-page list of his charitable contributions, listing “Land Donated to NY Office of Parks – Yorktown, N.Y. – 436 acres” at “$26,100,000.00."

Appraisal Process
The only way to know if Trump actually claimed a deduction of $26.1 million would be if congressional committees get his federal tax returns they have subpoenaed from the Treasury Department.