Bondi’s campaign was given $25,000 from the Trump Foundation, followed just days later by her office’s decision not to initiate any action against the school. He has also helped Florida monetarily since 1999, donating $253,500 that Republicans mostly benefitted from (via The Associated Press).
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Bondi tried to return the Donald Trump family foundation donation because as a charitable organization, it’s not authorized to make campaign contributions.
The Associated Press reported Monday that in 2013 Pam Bondi asked Trump for a donation to her reelection campaign “several weeks” before Bondi announced the state was considering joining a lawsuit against Trump University, the real estate seminar course now being sued by former clients. However, the NY investigation centers on only Trump University.
After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
Trump University is entangled in three separate lawsuits charging that the real-estate institution was a scam.
The details surrounding “Trump University” and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) already painted an unflattering picture.
Bondi endorsed Trump in March.
The documents complicate claims by Bondi’s office that she received only one consumer complaint about Trump University at the time that she decided not to join the NY investigation.
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.
The attorney general also said reports suggesting she did anything wrong, are completely “false”.
Bondi was among the first elected officials in Florida to endorse Trump and is scheduled to appear with him Saturday at a rally in Tampa.
“The timing of the donation by Trump is notable because the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money”, the AP states. “Floridians deserve answers and Pam Bondi must be held accountable”, Tant added. “Bondi’s conduct is unacceptable and Floridians deserve the full accounting an independent investigation would bring”.
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Wilcox, a government watchdog, said via Skype that the governor should call for an independent audit of Bondi’s emails, texts and other communications with Trump, as well as her staff’s, at the time Trump University was being investigated. “But that’s her prerogative”, he said. A spokesman for Abbott said the case was dropped after Trump agreed to stop offering his seminars in Texas.
