New documents complicate Donald Trump pay-to-play allegations in Florida
The Trump Organization has acknowledged that it erred in cutting a $25,000 check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to a political fund supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) during her 2013 re-election campaign, and Trump has paid the foundation back plus a $2,500 fine to the IRS. This donation has prompted an inquiry from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D). But new documents "at least partly undercut" the other allegation from this transaction, The New York Times reports, namely that Trump used the improper and misreported donation to convince Bondi not to join Schneiderman's fraud lawsuit against Trump University.
The timeline is as follows: Schneiderman announced his Trump U fraud suit on Aug. 25, 2013; a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel asked Bondi's communications director if Bondi was considering joining that suit on Aug. 29, setting off a flurry of internal emails; the Trump Foundation's check to Bondi is dated Sept. 9; the Sentinel reported that Bondi is considering joining the New York suit on Sept. 13; on Sept. 17, the check arrived at the political action committee in Tampa; and in mid-October, Bondi's office says it won't be suing Trump University. Bondi had solicited a donation from Trump "in late summer 2013," The Times reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How the FCC’s ‘equal time’ rule worksIn the Spotlight The law is at the heart of the Colbert-CBS conflict
-
What is the endgame in the DHS shutdown?Today’s Big Question Democrats want to rein in ICE’s immigration crackdown
-
‘Poor time management isn’t just an inconvenience’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Witkoff and Kushner tackle Ukraine, Iran in GenevaSpeed Read Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held negotiations aimed at securing a nuclear deal with Iran and an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine
-
Pentagon spokesperson forced out as DHS’s resignsSpeed Read Senior military adviser Col. David Butler was fired by Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is resigning
-
Judge orders Washington slavery exhibit restoredSpeed Read The Trump administration took down displays about slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia
-
Hyatt chair joins growing list of Epstein files losersSpeed Read Thomas Pritzker stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
