Florida Attorney General Defends Donald Trump’s Donation

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says she has no regrets about taking a $25,000 campaign donation from Donald Trump back in 2013.

While her office had received a complaint about Trump University’s real estate seminars, there was “no investigation” under way when the donation was sought out, Bondi said during a Tuesday media conference in Tallahassee.

“I just knew there was nothing improper,” Bondi was quoted by several media outlets as saying.

The donation in question was solicited by Bondi in 2013 for help in her 2014 reelection bid. At the time, her office was not investigating complaints about Trump University. In fact, she claimed to only have known about a single 2011 complaint against the now-defunct real estate school that’s facing legal action in a few states. She wasn’t aware other complaints had been filed with her office until they were brought out in the news in 2013, the Naples Daily News reported.

Bondi’s political action committee received Trump’s donation about a month prior to those reports hitting the news.

While Bondi contends there was nothing wrong with the donation, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) doesn’t seem so sure. The watchdog group says the donation was meant to discourage Bondi’s office from investigating Trump University. And, since the donation came from the Trump Foundation, it was illegal because Trump benefitted personally from it, CREW contended in a formal complaint filed earlier this month with the IRS.

Trump University has been under heavy legal fire for allegedly using deceptive practices and scamming students who enrolled, thinking it would make them rich in the real estate market. 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.

The Trump Foundation agreed to pay a $2,500 fine in regard to the donation to Bondi’s campaign, but that payment hasn’t settled CREW’s concerns.

“The Foundation claimed on its tax returns that it engaged in no political activity and listed a different, permissible group as receiving the contribution,” a press release issued by CREW said. “Despite Trump’s spokeswoman claiming, ‘all is squared away’ with the IRS because Trump or the Foundation paid a penalty, we checked, and the Foundation still has not corrected false information on its tax return, nor did the penalty address the false statements on tax returns or the new allegations raised in today’s complaint.”

While some have called for Bondi to resign as the controversy continues, she has no intention of doing so.

“Absolutely not, I am proud to be attorney general and I have two years left,” the Orlando Sentinel quoted her as saying.

Photo via the Florida Attorney General’s website