Among her statements in that voicemail was this. “Which shows no one in my office ever opened an investigation on Trump University”, the statement read. Never. I would never lie.
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The attorney general also said reports suggesting she did anything wrong, are completely “false”. “I’ve been obviously devastated over this”. The AP previously reported that then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott received a $35,000 donation from Trump to fund his gubernatorial campaign.
A spokesman for Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, confirms that she personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University.
And the fact that Bondi’s office ended its investigation soon after the $25,000 arrived should be seen as a coincidence.
Four days earlier, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Bondi’s office was considering whether to join a class-action lawsuit in NY against Trump University after receiving complaints from customers its real estate investing seminars were worthless and the school bilked them for thousands of dollars. Trump University was also operating in Texas without a required business license, a criminal misdemeanor under state law, he said. Ivanka Trump, Donald’s daughter, gave Bondi $500 a week before her father’s $25,000 donation and gave another $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida the following year.
The details surrounding “Trump University” and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) already painted an unflattering picture.
“When I want something I get it”, Trump said in January.
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.
Apparently, the donation to Bondi is not the first time that Trump has attempted to sway an Attorney General over to his side.
The AP reviewed thousands of pages of records related to consumer complaints about Trump University and its affiliates filed with Bondi’s office.
BIESECKER: Bondi’s office took no action.
Now more questions about Trump University and the lawsuits brought against it.
Trump has made headlines in recent days by saying the Mexican-American judge overseeing civil fraud lawsuits against the university has “an inherent conflict of interest” due to Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the U.S.’s southern border. It is up to Florida Commission on Ethics, Florida Elections Commission, and Florida Bar whether to investigate the complaints further.
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Both politicians have endorsed the celebrity businessman in his presidential bid.
