The timing is no coincidence

Pam Bondi, Florida’s attorney general, asked Donald Trump to contribute to her re-election campaign fund. Nothing wrong with that. EXCEPT that the donation came on Sept. 17, 2013, four days after it was reported that Bondi’s office was considering whether to investigate fraud allegations against the fraudulent Trump University.

Bondi made the call

As Trump famously promised, “I give to everybody. When they call, I give.” So Pam Bondi called, and Trump gave. But Trump had a bit more to say: “And you know what? When I need something from them … they are there for me.” And she was.

Bondi’s spokesman told AP that she personally solicited, by phone, the political contribution around the time her office deliberated joining the fraud investigation.

According to The Associated Press, Trump’s “charity,” The Donald J. Trump Foundation, responded with a $25,000 donation to a Bondi-aligned PAC. After the donation came in, Bondi decided not to continue with the investigation.

The follow-up

Most political influence works more subtly. They have a little chat. The politician does the “right” thing. Then the businessman makes the “contribution.” It looks better that way. So perhaps we should check what happened next.

If you think that a $25,000 contribution seems a little small for a billionaire, you’re right. It was just earnest money. The real payoff came later, as is customary. 

Bondi’s real payoff? Trump rented his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach mansion to Bondi at a fraction of the usual fee (less than 1/25), to use for a $3,000 per person fundraiser, according to U.S. News. Trump and NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani were thrown in as special guests.

Of course, Donald Trump has dismissed allegations of impropriety, saying his foundation’s $25,000 donation to Florida’s attorney general had nothing to do with her office withdrawing an investigation into Trump University. Can you imagine the uproar if Hillary Clinton had done the same thing?

The Boston Globe sums it up: “a crass political payoff”

The Boston Globe agrees that the timing of the donation “seems more than coincidental”. They call it what it is: “the episode [that] may finally prove to voters that Trump, who claims to be a brash outsider, is not above a crass political payoff.”

In fact, as quoted above, Trump has told us that he bought off politicians right and left. When it comes to corruption, he’s the master. Who else can brag about it and get off scot-free?