Trump is adding Pam Bondi to his impeachment defense team, which is interesting, considering when she was reportedly investigating him, he gave an illegal $25K political donation supporting her. Her office never went after his business. It's story time. 1/ wsj.com/articles/white…
As Attorney General of Florida, Pam Bondi's office received at least 22 complaints regarding Trump University. The New York AG's office filed suit against Trump and Trump U. Bondi's office told local press that they were "reviewing the allegations" in the New York suit. 2/
Four days after that was reported, on 9/17/2013, the Donald J. Trump Foundation made a $25K contribution to And Justice for All, a political group backing Bondi. The donation, illegal for a 501(c)(3) private foundation to give, was personally solicited by Bondi from Trump. 3/
In October, according to docs obtained by CREW, OAG told reporters “there was no consideration of whether to join [the NY suit]. In light of the fact that the Attorney General’s Office received only one consumer complaint 2.5 years ago, there is no investigation at this time.” 4/
Oct. 17, 2013: The Tampa Bay Times reports that And Justice for All acknowledged receiving the contribution from the Trump Foundation. 5/
Oct. 17-18, 2013: Despite previously acknowledging the 22 complaints to reporters, internal emails show OAG employees weeded out any complaint about Trump Institute and related entities to claim there was only one complaint against Trump University. 6/
Here's where things get really interesting: in its 2013 tax returns, the Trump Foundation claims it made no donations to political entities and replaces And Justice for All with a different, similarly named group in Kansas to which they would legally be allowed to donate. 7/
This is where we come in. In March, 2016, CREW researchers notice mention of the donation and recognize it as illegal. CREW files the first of what would turn out to be multiple IRS and other complaints against the Trump Foundation. 8/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
The next day, Trump representatives acknowledge the illegal donation, and blame an increasing series of clerical errors, in which they claim to have tried to send the money to a Utah group, sent it to the Florida group and recorded it as a Kansas group. 9/ citizensforethics.org/weve-got-quest…
Bondi's spokesman says that she was unaware of the 20+ complaints against Trump entities when she solicited the donation.
Bondi: “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.” 10/
Bondi: “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.” 10/
CREW then filed a complaint against Bondi for potentially violating the law by failing to investigate or take legal action regarding complaints against Trump U after an affiliated political organization received a contribution from the Trump Foundation 11/ citizensforethics.org/legal-filing/c…
August 8, 2016: CREW files an IRS complaint against the Trump Foundation for acting as a prop for the Trump campaign through its engagement in Trump Campaign events, including payments to groups that came to campaign rallies. 12/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
9/1/16: Following CREW’s discovery that the Trump Foundation did not file an updated 990 tax form, the Washington Post discovered a $2,500 IRS penalty paid by the Foundation for the illegal donation, kicking off one of the biggest stories of the year. 13/ washingtonpost.com/news/post-poli…
CREW filed another IRS complaint against Trump & the Foundation for the donation. The complaint called for an investigation into whether the donation was used to provide a private benefit to Trump and into Trump for engaging in prohibited self-dealing. 14/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
CREW filed criminal bribery complaints against Trump and Bondi with the DOJ and called for a criminal investigation into whether the Trump Foundation broke federal criminal law by making numerous false reports to the IRS on its tax forms. 15/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
CREW then filed a third IRS complaint against Trump for repeatedly breaking the law by using the Foundation for his personal benefit, multiple acts of self-dealing and making multiple payments and grants for the private benefit of Trump. 16/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
CREW discovers that not only did the Foundation’s attempts to address its tax issues from the Bondi donation contain serious errors, it also presented materials to the NY AG that raise significant questions about the veracity of its previous claims. 17/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
On December 24, 2016, Trump announced he will shut down the Trump Foundation in the light of the growing scandal. 18/ citizensforethics.org/press-release/…
Two years later, almost to the day, the Trump Foundation agrees to shut down. The NY AG asked a judge to ban the Trumps temporarily from serving on the boards of other New York nonprofit organizations. 19/ washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
So while it might seem shocking that Trump would go to Bondi to help him make his legal problems go away, if you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. 20/20
UPDATE: It's over. 21/20 nbcnews.com/politics/donal…
