TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday defended her decision three years ago to solicit $25,000 from Donald Trump at the same time questions were arising about Trump University.
The Republican and former prosecutor said she had no regrets about asking Trump for money and no regrets about keeping the donation even after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had filed a lawsuit against Trump University.
“If I had returned it, you would have reported ‘Bondi accepted a bribe, got caught and returned it,'” Bondi said. “That’s how the reporting goes. And so, no, there was nothing improper about it. So there was no reason to return it.”
The 2013 check to a committee supporting Bondi’s re-election campaign from the Donald J. Trump Foundation violated a federal prohibition against charities giving money to political groups.
The issue flared back to life amid media coverage of Trump’s presidential campaign and the recent news that his foundation paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS over the donation. Democrats in Washington and Florida have been demanding investigations into how Bondi’s office handled questions about Trump University and the Trump Institute, companies that offered get-rich-quick real-estate seminars.