Trump Hosted Fundraiser for Florida AG Who Stopped Investigating Trump U

Donald Trump welcomed Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to his Mar-a-Lago club for a fundraiser supporting her campaign after her office stayed out of a multi-state lawsuit against Trump University, according to a new report.

The Huffington Post writes that Bondi held the $3,000-a-person event at the private resort in March 2014, seven months after she initiated a review of the suit led by New York state. Bondi’s office remained on the sidelines. HuffPo has more:

The use of Mar-a-Lago alone was a donation of some value. Space at the resort is expensive to rent, and Trump has charged his own presidential campaign roughly $140,000 per event for use of the mansion. In contrast, the Republican Party of Florida paid only $4,855.65 for the Bondi fundraiser, cutting a check on March 25, 2014. It was a “small event on the lawn … featuring snacks and refreshments, attended by about 50 people,” a Bondi campaign staffer told The Huffington Post. Trump’s courtship of Bondi, including the Mar-a-Lago event, could complicate a line of attack his campaign is currently making against Hillary Clinton. Trump and his surrogates have attacked Clinton’s family foundation for accepting donations from governments and individuals with business before the State Department during her tenure there. They have suggested that, in turn, those donors were given special access to then-Secretary of State Clinton and her staff.

The fundraiser is the latest example of political money ties between Trump and Bondi. Weeks before her office said it was reviewing the Trump U suit, Bondi solicited a campaign contribution from Trump, the AP reported. Her reelection bid ultimately received one, in the form of $25,000 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to a pro-Bondi PAC. That check was cut just days after her office’s announcement.

Bondi endorsed Trump’s presidential bid ahead of the Florida primary.

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