Trump seeks distance from donation supporting Florida AG

Since Pam Bondi took office, up until the decision was made, Florida received just one complaint against Trump University.

And after the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.

The donation was three years ago. Here’s a recap of where we are with the controversy.

The group charges it violated an IRS rule that prohibits “self-dealing” schemes in which nonprofit leaders use their charities’ money to benefit themselves, the Washington Post reports. The check went to And Justice For All, a committee that was the fundraising arm for Bondi’s re-election campaign – and undeniably political in nature.

Shortly after Trump, via his foundation, improperly donated $25,000 to a Bondi-affiliated political group, the investigation was magically dropped. Perhaps the fact that Trump’s foundation made the contribution (which, to repeat, is illegal) was just a mix-up.

What’s so controversial about this campaign contribution? The so-called university has been under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office, and a class action lawsuit was also filed in California. It also flips a big narrative of the campaign: Trump has long accused Clinton of pay-to-play politics, and now he’s under scrutiny for the same.

Here is a taste of what the national and Sunshine State media is saying about Bondi.

Critics have accused Trump and Bondi of a quid pro quo arrangement, which both deny.

Pam Bondi at a Trump rally on August 3 in Daytona, Florida.

Hicks contends that “there was never any discussion of Trump University” during that phone call when Bondi asked for the donation. Trump resisted paying a fine, insisting that he had been unaware of the federal limit and that, once informed, he sought refunds.

O’DONNELL: That was past year. Abbott never was involved in the investigation, according to David Morales, the deputy attorney general at the time who oversaw the probe.

The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has been looking into the matter, sent a complaint to the IRS Wednesday calling for an investigation.

The Bondi case is a reminder that Trump, who is fond of calling his Democratic opponent “Crooked Hillary” Clinton, has a batch of serious ethics issues of his own. Trump’s efforts to boost her politically came during and after a period when Bondi was under pressure to pursue allegations that those seminars were defrauding consumers.

Bondi has not waived confidentiality. It’s nearly like Trump isn’t as brilliant and all-knowing as he likes to claim. And even when the new information serves to exonerate Clinton rather than implicate her in wrongdoing, the coverage still emphasizes that the whole thing just “raises questions” about her integrity.

But when exactly did they meet?

Bondi would not respond to Times/Herald questions.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. “She is very popular”, Trump said. Where are the memos that say, ‘Hey, let’s, right now, give Pam Bondi some money. Hopkins, according to Barrett, brought $200,000 in cash to the closing for his apartments, which Trump attended; the money was ferried to the bank in a Trump limo.

Trump has repeatedly alleged that Clinton participated in such “pay-to-play” deals with Clinton Foundation donors during her tenure as Secretary of State. Clinton has regularly noted on the campaign trail that the Republican foreign policy establishment remains deeply uneasy with Trump and has pointed to many conservative foreign policy experts who have endorsed her.