Democrat Anti-Trump PAC Files Election Complaint Against Pam Bondi
Democrats sense an opportunity to “discredit Trump in a key state”
In 2013, Florida’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, solicited a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation. Coincidentally, this was the same period during which Bondi’s office was purportedly investigating Trump University and determining whether or not to join New York’s suit against Trump U. Democrats jumped at the chance to point fingers and make accusations of pay-to-play / influence peddling.
“I never, nor was my office, investigating him. Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I’ve been obviously devastated over this,” Bondi said in a voicemail message to a Times/Herald reporter.
In a separate statement, Bondi called Monday’s Associated Press report on the Trump University issue “misleading,” adding: “No one in my office ever opened an investigation of Trump University, nor was there a basis for doing so.”
The AP account said Bondi “nixed” suing Trump, but it did not say that she had opened an investigation.
Bondi’s spokesman, Whitney Ray, told the Times/Herald that Assistant Attorney General Mark Hamilton reviewed the “few complaints” the office had on file about Trump University and made the “rightful determination” that because New York’s lawsuit was on behalf of all consumers nationwide, “no further action need be taken.”
This was not a satisfactory explanation, and Democrats “smelled blood.”
The Tampa Bay Times continues:
But the timing raised questions, and Democrats, smelling blood, pounced on the Republican attorney general, sensing an opening to further discredit Trump in a key state.
The Florida Democratic Party called for an independent investigation of the “dirty money” that party chairwoman Allison Tant said Bondi should have returned to Trump.
“Bondi’s conduct is unacceptable,” Tant said.
Bondi tried to refund the money in March because it came from a charitable foundation not authorized to make campaign contributions.
But according to Nancy Watkins, a Tampa accountant for Bondi’s political committee, And Justice for All, the refund was rejected and Trump wrote a personal check.
Making matters worse, a Democrat PAC has filed an election complaint with the DOJ.
A Democratic group affiliated with an anti-Trump super PAC filed a complaint with the Department of Justice on Wednesday night against Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the $25,000 her re-election fundraising group accepted from the Trump Foundation in 2013.
“We believe that Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General, and Donald Trump have violated federal voting laws including but not limited to bribery across state lines by way of a $25,000 campaign contribution from Trump to Bondi during her 2013 election by way of the Trump Foundation in return for AG Bondi dropping an investigation into Trump University. We ask the DOJ to investigate this matter,” a complaint filed by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump reads.
Now that a complaint has been filed, the Department of Justice is obligated to review it and respond to the group that filed it.
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Comments
Dems are opening a Pandora’s Box on this one. 25 K versa 400 M with Hillary. The stupid prosecution of Bob McDonnell, Perry and Tom Delay.
They don’t care. What they are trying to do is make the Clinton foundation stuff go away, not to reduce Trump with this.
New York is the only state suing? Does that mean 49 other State Attorney generals took bribes?
Clearly Donald is not as adept at bribing as Hillary. Maybe because he doesn’t do it as much.
Sue in kind. Works like a charm.
And what public office was Donald Trump holding when this supposed influence peddling happened? What position did Bondi receive in the Trump organization for Trump’s contribution to her campaign?
If the contribution from Trump came from a source that was not allowed to contribute to political campaigns, could this explain Bondi’s attempt to refund the contribution?
“But according to Nancy Watkins, a Tampa accountant for Bondi’s political committee, And Justice for All, the refund was rejected and Trump wrote a personal check.”
If the refund was rejected, why did Trump have to write a personal check?
Private citizens and public officials have been convicted for less.
Google “theft of honest services” and “United States v. William F. Sawyer.”
That’s it?
In light of all the huffing and puffing they’ve been doing on this all week, trying to inflate it into something which might fly, I thought they’d at least have something tangible. But this is just the usual D’rat smear, innuendo, and tarbrush job.
So, Trump makes a donation … not much of a clandestine operation, with his signature on the check; probably his fingerprints too. No problem so far.
Bondi “nixes” something … I imagine only a couple of percent of complaints to the office ever turn into any sort of investigation, official or otherwise; everything else gets “nixed”, either because it’s crap, it’s trivial, or it’s bumped by matters of higher priority. In other words, “nixing” is routine business; no crime is implied.
So, what’s the timeline? Without that, there’s no possibility of showing corruption—or even mere sleaziness; cause and effect must be demonstrated, or at least argued. If Trump pays Bondi to “nix” a non-investigation, that’s corruption. If Trump contributes to Bondi because he likes her work and would like to see her continue in office, that’s not corruption, it’s just sensible—why does anybody donate to re-election campaigns?
Well, what a surprise … the D’rats seem to have left out that part of the story. So far, no case.
But that isn’t the point of a political tarbrush attack. All they need is the tu quoque fallacy. Even a very weak version like this one will do.
D’rats eat, drink and breathe tu quoque. Soros is using his pirated billions to subvert representative government? But … but … Koch brothers!
Same deal here. The Clinton crime family and a half-century of larceny, corruption, and political pay-for-play? But … but … Trump and Bondi!
It doesn’t matter that it’s a classic logical fallacy. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It doesn’t matter if it’s even relevant. What they really need is someone who claims that he once saw Trump kick a puppy, and I’m sure they’re looking. But until they find one, silliness like this will have to do.
After your weak…but at least not risible…”nothing to see here” dismissal of the whole deal, your wheels fall off.
You go on a tu quoque-a-thone yourself. And you haven’t the wit to see it…!!!
It’s a logical fallacy because it seeks to deflect from the original question of right or wrong-doing by suggesting “oh, yeah…wul, you guys do it, too!”. It thus is intended never to address the root question, and indeed is intended to deflect from dealing with it.
So, it doesn’t matter to the question of right or wrong about what George Soros does, the Deemocrats do, or anyone else does. The only valid question is “was it right or wrong” for the people involved (here T-rump and Bondi) to have done it?
“Trump paid a $2,500 slap-on-the-wrist fine to the IRS for illegally paying $25,000 to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013. Not only did they make a political payoff from a charity foundation (a no-no), but they also hid it from the IRS.
Trump’s excuse:
The name of the pro-Bondi group is “And Justice for All.” Trump’s staffer saw that name in the book, and — mistakenly — cut the check from the Trump Foundation. The group in the book was an entirely different charity in Utah, unrelated to Bondi’s group in Florida.
Somehow, the money got to Florida anyway.
Then, Trump’s staffers said, the foundation’s accounting firm made another mistake: It told the IRS that the $25,000 had gone to a third charity, based in Kansas, called Justice for All. In reality, the Kansas group got no money.
“That was just a complete mess-up on names. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s controller, told The Post last week. After The Post pointed out these errors in the spring, Trump paid a $2,500 penalty tax.”
http://theresurgent.com/trumps-cover-up-of-illegal-bondi-payoff-is-incredibly-weak/
So the “nothing to see here, move on” crap argument doesn’t work here.
There may or may not have been a quid pro quo, but there were certainly enough…and to spare…irregularities to justify an investigation.