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Miami Herald: Donald Trump buys himself an attorney general for $25,000
This may not be getting much attention in the national media, but Florida has been on it - the Herald and the Tampa Bay Times especially.The article begins by describing the conference call between Trump, Brewer, Scott Brown, our AG Pam Bondi, and other Trump surrogates wherein Trump goes off on Judge Curiel and tells his supporters on the phone that "they should demonize the judge and call any reporter who questioned the strategy a racist." Mr. Grimm points out that Bondi, our "state's chief legal officer," participated in a conversation that "conservative legal scholars criticized as contemptuous of American jurisprudence and Republican political leaders decried as outright racist;" that she listened and never uttered a word of protest.
The conference call occurred on Monday. That same day, an investigative AP report revealed that back in 2013, even as the attorney general’s office was receiving angry complaints from Floridians claiming they had been defrauded by Trump’s faux university and not long after her office intimated Florida might join New York’s $40 million lawsuit against Trump University, Bondi had “personally solicited” a campaign contribution from Trump.
It gets even worse. After a Bondi campaign committee received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation, the attorney general’s office dropped its inquiry into Trump U. (In a call to the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times bureau Tuesday, Bondi protested that her office had never opened a formal investigation.)
And worse still. The donation — from Trump’s Section 501©(3) charitable foundation — was illegal. And never reported to the IRS. Tax-exempt charitable foundations are prohibited from engaging in political activity. That’s for Trump and the IRS to work out. But how the hell could a prohibited transgression like that go unremarked for nearly three years by its recipient, Florida’s chief legal officer? How was it that the very attorney general failed to check the provenance of her $25,000 donation?
Which only adds another sleazy chapter to Bondi’s history of bent ethics. In 2014, The New York Times reported that a Washington lobbying firm specializing in influencing state attorneys general had lavished considerable attention on Bondi, showering her with gifts, exotic junkets and campaign contributions. Meanwhile the Florida Attorney General’s Office lost interest in pursuing fraud allegations dogging the firm’s various clients.
It gets even worse. After a Bondi campaign committee received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation, the attorney general’s office dropped its inquiry into Trump U. (In a call to the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times bureau Tuesday, Bondi protested that her office had never opened a formal investigation.)
And worse still. The donation — from Trump’s Section 501©(3) charitable foundation — was illegal. And never reported to the IRS. Tax-exempt charitable foundations are prohibited from engaging in political activity. That’s for Trump and the IRS to work out. But how the hell could a prohibited transgression like that go unremarked for nearly three years by its recipient, Florida’s chief legal officer? How was it that the very attorney general failed to check the provenance of her $25,000 donation?
Which only adds another sleazy chapter to Bondi’s history of bent ethics. In 2014, The New York Times reported that a Washington lobbying firm specializing in influencing state attorneys general had lavished considerable attention on Bondi, showering her with gifts, exotic junkets and campaign contributions. Meanwhile the Florida Attorney General’s Office lost interest in pursuing fraud allegations dogging the firm’s various clients.
Oh, and she'll be joining Trump once again when he holds a rally here in Tampa this Saturday. That $27,500 (including the IRS fine) sure was well spent.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article82563867.html
44 replies
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DUers need to have a way to keep one sleaze topic together 
Nothing short of squashing blockbuster news stories that portray Trump as corrupt and unworthy of holding office.
It takes a smaller organization doing the digging to uncover the stench that surrounds Trump and his minions and shows him for what he is.
No hiding from the truth now. And no hiding the truth the the M$M is in bed with this lunatic.
PUT HIM IN JAIL!
