With Trump attacking Clinton for so called “pay for play” involving the Clinton Foundation, some are calling the two scandals comparable.
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Bondi had been investigating allegations against Trump University in Florida, and in September 2013 – three days before the Trump foundation donation to a pro-Bondi PAC – the Orlando Sentinel reported that her office was considering joining the NY lawsuit against Trump University.
A donation from the Trump Foundation came a few days later, and Bondi’s office subsequently declined to investigate the organization or join a NY lawsuit against Trump University.
That contribution’s drawn scrutiny in part because the money came from Trump’s non-profit charitable foundation, in violation of IRS rules, and because the foundation failed to report the gift on its tax return.
– There was never any recommendation by the staff to investigate or sue Trump University in 2013, and consequently, the matter never rose to the attorney general’s level for any decision of any kind.
Donald Trump was later fined $2,500 by the IRS for making a political contribution through a tax-exempt charity.
On Monday, a Bondi spokesperson admitted that Bondi personally spoke to her old friend Donald about a donation before she dropped the case against Trump “University”.
But we do know, from his statements on Monday, that Trump is now saying he didn’t talk with Bondi about the donations.
In the Trump-Bondi scheme, Trump made a $25,000 contribution to Florida Atty. Bondi’s attorney general’s office never pursued the case. And he gave her what he might call a fantastic deal: While this year he has charged his campaign $140,000 every time it uses the mansion for an event, the Republican Party of Florida paid Mar-a-Lago less than $5,000 for Bondi’s fundraiser. The fine was levied in response to the complaints of a Washington, D.C. -based ethics group that the $25,000 campaign donation had not been disclosed to tax officials. The donation arrived in September, a few days after news reports said Bondi’s office was reviewing complaints against Trump’s real estate seminar company.
Of course, this was the flawless occasion to talk about Trump’s denial to release his tax returns, a highly-discussed issue lately.
Asked for specific information about when or how Trump first met Bondi and the nature of their relationship, Hicks wouldn’t elaborate, only repeating that “they have a great relationship and have for many years”. “The apparent failure to tell the IRS about this political activity makes matters worse and is something we’ve seen too many organizations doing lately”. But the stream of contributions so soon after Bondi chose to overlook a Trump scandal that resulted in multiple class action lawsuits certainly raises eyebrows.
Florida resident Kenneth Lafrate claims that the Trump Institute scammed him out of roughly $7,000, most of which paid for a mentoring program.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks clarified details of the conversation one day after the Republican presidential candidate said he never spoke to Bondi about the issue, without providing specifics.
“I spent almost a decade as a federal prosecutor, mostly in the public corruption unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida”, he writes.
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“Of course I asked Donald Trump for a contribution, that’s not what this is about”, Bondi said Tuesday. “She also gained influence among politicos nationwide and that’s why Florida attorney general Pam Bondi is one of our rising political stars”. Then it blamed a clerical error and said it should have come from Mr. Trump’s account, not from his foundation. She’s a fine person, beyond reproach.
