Trump lawyer Alan Garten offered new details about the transaction to The Associated Press on Thursday, after a copy of the September 9, 2013, check was released by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
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The Trump campaign dismissed the NY attorney general’s inquiry into the candidate’s namesake foundation as a “left-wing hit job”.
It came at a time that her office said it was weighing up opening a fraud investigation into Trump University after former students claimed they were scammed. “This fact pattern indicates that these payments may have influenced Mrs Bondi’s official decision not to participate in litigation against Mr Trump”, the letter read.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued an open letter asking United States Attorney-General Loretta Lynch to investigate the donation to Mrs Bondi.
Schneiderman, a Hillary Clinton supporter, is already suing Trump over alleged fraud at Trump University.
New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, said on September 13 that his office is investigating the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
“My interest in this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of nonprofits in NY state”, Schneiderman told “The Lead” host Jake Tapper.
Schneiderman on CNN Tuesday only said his office had “had correspondence” with the Trump Foundation.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung: “Partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years”.
Earlier this year, the IRS fined the Trump Foundation $2,500 for making a $25,000 political donation to a group supporting the Bondi campaign in 2013. “According to the Post, Trump has not donated to his own foundation since 2008 and was accused of spending “$20,000 of money earmarked for charitable purposes to buy a six-foot-tall painting of himself”. Trump’s campaign contends that the 2013 check from the Trump Foundation was mistakenly issued following a series of clerical errors and that Trump meant to use personal funds.
Schneiderman did not give specifics of what, if any, wrongdoing the Trump Foundation might be suspected of.
The New York state inquiry comes after a series of reports in the Washington Post revealed how the Trump Foundation spends its money.
Also, the Florida Democratic Party Thursday filed an election complaint against Trump.
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Records show that Bondi’s re-election campaign received 24 checks totaling $57,000 on the date of the Trump fundraiser.
