Donald Trump has been involved in a mind boggling 3,500 lawsuits. In approximately 1,300 of those, Trump was the one being sued. Wow.
There are currently three separate lawsuits against Trump University. Two are class action lawsuits filed by unhappy former enrollees at the school and a third, filed by the State of New York, each claims that students were defrauded.
In 2010, after the Better Business Bureau gave Trump’s fake “school” a D- rating, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, considered filing a fraud suit for his state.
The AG was investigating possible deceptive trade practices. The investigation was dropped after Trump agreed to stop operations in Texas. Shortly after it was dropped, records show that Trump made a $3,500 donation to Abbott’s successful reelection campaign.
My… What a coincidence.
Now the Associate Press is reporting that in 2013, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was considering her own state lawsuit against Trump University. However, before the suit was ever officially filed, Bondi went directly to Donald Trump and asked him to make a donation to her re-election campaign.
Yes. She solicited a campaign contribution from a man she was investigating for fraud.
It should come as no surprise that Trump paid up, and $25,000 was sent to a PAC supporting the Republican AG. The group, called “And Justice For All” received the money on Sept.17, 2013.
That was exactly four days after Bondi had announced that she was considering joining New York state in its probe of Trump University. AG Bondi quickly decided that she wouldn’t join the New York suit after all.
Gee. Another coincidence.
There are several very serious legal and ethical problems with this entire scenario. First of all, Pam Bondi says that she wasn’t taking a bribe, but she sure created the appearance of doing exactly that.
She was investigating Trump U. She went to Trump to ask for a campaign donation. She got that donation and promptly dropped the lawsuit.
Secondly, the donation itself appears to be in violation of federal tax laws. The money came from the Trump Family Foundation, which is a charitable organization. The Internal Revenue Service prohibits such charitable foundations from participating in political activities. Oh, oh.
Finally, Donald Trump’s own bragging words put this whole situation in the worst possible light. During his campaign for President, Trump has said that he’s donated to politicians because he expects favors from them.
At a rally in Iowa last January he said:
“When I expect something, I get it … When I call, they kiss my ass. It’s true.”
Featured image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons Generic License 2.0.
