He told The Associated Press that Bondi received Trump’s donation without knowing about the existence of the said complaints.
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Bondi added that her office had no basis for starting the investigation into Trump and has made every document related to the real estate seminars public. In internal emails, Bondi’s own staff appeared to lump Trump University and the Trump Institute together as New York’s lawsuit has done.
The departure comes as Bondi takes fire for her part in a $25,000 campaign contribution to her 2014 re-election from a charitable foundation controlled by GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump. Bondi subsequently announced she was no longer suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
If Pam Bondi cares at all about the optics, she’ll skip being lead cheerleader at Donald Trump’s rally in Tampa on Saturday.
The AP said Bondi declined requests for an interview Monday and referred questions to Marc Reichelderfer, a political consultant who worked on her re-election effort.
Reichelderfer told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump “several weeks” before her office publicly announced it was deliberating whether to join a lawsuit proposed by New York’s Democratic attorney general. AG asked Trump for donation before nixing Trump U case MORE for a political donation within days of her office considering whether to join a multi-state lawsuit against now-defunct Trump University. The Miami Herald is reporting that Bondi left a voicemail message for one of its reporters.
Bondi’s isn’t the first case in which a Republican attorney general has been accused of dropping a case against Trump U in return for campaign contributions.
Several Florida Democrats on Tuesday called for an “independent investigation” of Bondi’s activities, although they did not say exactly who should conduct that investigation. Bondi’s predecessor also received numerous complaints about Trump’s businesses. More than 20 people filed complaints with the Florida attorney general, many saying they paid for training materials which were never received.
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The fact that the office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi decided against investigating charges of fraud against Trump University after receiving the $25,000 donation is considered suspicious by many because of Trump’s own words about his expectations when he makes donations. A spokesman for Abbott, who is now governor of Texas, said the case was dropped after Trump’s organization agreed to stop offering real-estate seminars in the state.
