Trump held $150K fundraiser for Bondi after her Trump U decision

Anyway, the Huffington Post has discovered that the $25,000 donation wasn’t even the only act of generosity that Trump extended Bondi’s way: In March 2014, his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach hosted a fundraiser for her.

Criticism about Donald Trump’s donation to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has renewed focus on Trump’s history of political giving, sparking questions of whether he was serious earlier in his campaign when he bragged of being able to buy politicians.

In the Florida case, Trump is accused of using a large and timely political donation in 2013 to ward off a potentially thorny investigation by Bondi’s office: Days before the donation was made, The Orlando Sentinel reported that the NY state attorney general’s office had sued Trump University and noted that Bondi’s office was weighing whether to join in that litigation. Charities are barred by law from supporting political activities. Back in the fall of 2013, Bondi’s office was reviewing whether to pursue fraud charges Trump University, the mogul’s real estate training seminar that disillusioned students claimed had scammed them out of thousands of dollars.

Last week, the Washington Post reported that Trump recently had to pay a fine after the IRS reviewed his foundation’s contribution to Bondi’s PAC-registered nonprofits, it turns out, can not make political donations.

The Trump Organization told NBC News that Trump, an outspoken critic of pay-for-play politics, reimbursed the foundation for the fine.

Trump didn’t write Bondi a check on the night of the fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, but the use of the space itself constitutes a significant donation.

“I give to everybody”, Trump said.

If nothing else, the Bondi scandal should be a prime topic for questioning in the debates. Bondi, in an interview with Fox Business News Tuesday, was defiant, saying she wouldn’t be “bullied” by Clinton. “It’s called pay-for-play”. “I gotta give to them”.

Trump’s campaign claims the two “have a great relationship and have for many years”. The new revelation raises further questions over whether Trump was thanking Bondi, and could weaken his own line of attack against Clinton over the sourcing of her own campaign donations. “When I call, they kiss my ass”. He broke federal law in connection with his foundation’s gift to to a campaign group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The $25,000 from Trump’s foundation wasn’t the only support Bondi received from the Republican. “And do you know what?” “I believe she knows better”. When I want something, I get it. If she had ever concocted a fake school that allegedly defrauded consumers, and if she had made an illegal political donation to an attorney general who then opted not to prosecute fraud, and if she had tried to cover it up by insisting that the money was supposed to go to Kansas, and if she had ever denied speaking with that AG despite recent statements from an AG ally that she in fact had spoken about a donation.

Harris’ office said it, too, was investigating the company, and an aide said she donated the $6,000 from Trump to charity.

According to the Washington Post, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is going to ask the IRS to investigate Trump’s contribution.