“If it looks like a bribe and quacks like a bribe, I think it’s a bribe”, he said. And you know what?
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The contribution came as Bondi was deciding whether to investigate allegations of fraud against Trump University. The Trump Foundation’s tax return did not list the illegal contribution.
Trump and Bondi in March 2016, discussing only FEC-approved topics. After she received the check, she decided not to sue Trump. NY accused the so-called university of bilking students who had signed up to learn the billionaire’s money-making secrets. Three years later, Trump contributed $35,000 to the then-attorney general’s campaign for governor.
This week, Bondi explained she requested the donation from Trump to a super PAC supporting her. And in 2000, the NY state lobbying commission imposed a $250,000 fine for Trump’s failing to disclose the full extent of his lobbying of state legislators.
“The American people deserve to know what was said, because clearly the attorney general did not proceed with the investigation”, she told reporters.
The first documented contribution to Bondi from the Trumps was on September 10, 2013, when daughter Ivanka gave $500 – about two weeks after Schneiderman filed his suit in NY that Bondi’s office was reviewing.
“I was a businessman”, he said in an August 2015 Republican debate.
Trump, for his part, has said he never spoke with Bondi about Trump University. When they contacted Attorneys General in other states, they not only got responses they got their money back. Following the donation, that investigation was called off.
But it turns out there was more.
In other cases during the 1980s, Trump gave loan and set up subsidiaries which skirted campaign finance limits. The improper donation, a $25,000 gift from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, was made in 2013. Trump was forced to pay a $2,500 fine. Please see our terms of service for more information.
Campaigning in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton demanded details of the conversation in which Bondi solicited Trump’s donation.
No surprise: The tax-exempt charitable foundation failed to properly report the donation and broke the law in giving to a political operation. But the Clinton campaign is digging into it aggressively after the IRS fine came to light and as Trump makes allegations of corruption by Clinton the focal point of his campaign.
Trump’s daughter also donated a small amount. They are there for me.
What does Bondi say about that timing?
The foundation incorrectly reported the money went to an unrelated charity in Kansas with a similar name.
News of the fine – levied after an ethics group complained that the donation had not been disclosed to tax officials – was first reported by The Washington Post.
The donation in question – a $25,000 contribution from the Trump Foundation to a political group supporting Bondi’s re-election – was received just days after Bondi announced her office was considering joining a lawsuit led by NY against Trump University.
On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump supporter and head of his transition team, insisted there was no connection between Bondi’s actions and the contribution. The spokesman also told CNN Pam Bondi had nothing to do with it, the decision was made by staff. I have a lot of respect for her – never spoke to her about that at all and just have a lot of respect for her as a person. And where has the U S. attorney for Florida been?
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– There was never any “multistage” investigation or lawsuit into Trump University. CREW has also filed complaints with the Inspector General for Florida’s Office of the Attorney General and the state’s Commission on Ethics in regard to Bondi’s role in the alleged matter.
