As the Washington Post reported on September 1, 2016, the Trump Foundation paid the IRS a penalty for an illegal contribution to the campaign of Florida Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi. The contribution was unlawful because the Foundation is a tax-exempt charity.
Charities may not contribute to campaign funds.
On top of that, the Trump Foundation sent the $25,000 contribution while Bondi was considering whether to take action against Trump University for alleged consumer fraud.
A few days later, Bondi chose not to proceed with the lawsuit. Doesn’t that smell like a bribe?
Bondi Asked For Contribution
In June of this year, Bondi’s office confirmed that she had asked Trump for the contribution. A spokesperson who worked on her last reelection campaign told the Associated Press (AP) that Bondi did not know that her office had received dozens of complaints from consumers when she made the request.
Bondi confirmed that she received the contribution on September 17, 2013, four days after she announced that her office was considering joining the federal and New York investigations of Trump University.
Her spokesperson said that Bondi made the request “several weeks before” the announcement.
According to the Post report, the Trump Foundation will not be in full compliance with the law until it demands—and gets—repayment from Bondi’s organization. But that’s not likely to happen.
Donald Trump has already reimbursed the foundation with his personal check.
A Double Standard?
With all the media attention on the Clinton Foundation’s alleged improprieties (here’s one example), shouldn’t the mainstream media be all over this story? One would think so. But one would be wrong.
Although the Trump Foundation paid the penalty to the IRS the week of September 1, 2016, there was very little coverage.
On the Sunday morning news television programs, only John Dickerson of CBS asked a Trump representative about it. Dickerson asked Chris Christie whether the incident was an example of Trump’s ability to get what he wanted from politicians.
Unfortunately, when Christie responded
“I can’t believe that anyone would insult Pam Bondi that way.”
Then he ranted about the Clinton Foundation. Dickerson allowed him to go on rather than asking him to answer the question that was asked.
Watch the full interview with Gov. Chris Christie:
But that’s more than other news outlets did. Martha Raddatz of ABC interviewed Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, for seven minutes, but she never mentioned the IRS penalty at all. Raddatz pushed Conway on Trump’s plans to deport undocumented immigrants. It would have been interesting to see her question Conway on the payment to Bondi.
And when Neera Tanden tried to bring it up on Chris Wallace’s Fox News Sunday,Wallace shut it down.
He wouldn’t even allow her to complete her thought. Then again, Wallace is so dedicated to ferreting out the truth that he says it’s not his job to follow up if any candidate lies during the October 19 debate.
https://youtu.be/wBfb0EBApIU?t=453
Featured Image by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv/CC by 2.0 And Michael Vadon/CC by SA-2.0.
