Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi let Trump University off the hook. Now she'll be working at the White House.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to a White House post, Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg Politics has learned.
The decision is likely to raise a few eyebrows with Trump's critics: In 2016, Trump paid a $2,500 penalty to the Internal Revenue Service for an improper $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to a campaign group supporting Bondi, who had solicited a contribution from Trump while her office was deciding whether to join a fraud lawsuit against Trump University. After receiving the donation, Bondi "inexplicably decided not to pursue charges against Trump University," RedState writes, and Trump "held a posh fundraiser for Bondi at the infamous Mar-a-Lago estate."
Other reports, such as one by The Associated Press, claim that Bondi solicited the contribution before her office knew about the Trump University lawsuit, and The New York Times writes that the investigation was never brought to Bondi herself, instead being considered by lower-level staff who made the decision not to pursue the case.
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Trump, for his part, has argued that he only supported Bondi politically.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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