The New York Times has an article on the timing of events in the Trump-Bondi scandal, and surprise, they present the information as if it absolves both Bondi and Trump.
It was Aug. 29, 2013, an unremarkable day inside Florida’s whitewashed Capitol, and a typically sweltering one outside among the moss-bearded oaks and sabal palms. Around 3:45 p.m., Jennifer Meale, the communications director for Attorney General Pam Bondi, fielded a seemingly routine call from a financial reporter for The Orlando Sentinel. The attorney general of New York had recently filed a lawsuit against Donald J. Trump alleging fraud in the marketing of Trump University’s real estate and wealth-building seminars. Had Florida ever conducted its own investigation, the reporter asked.
What the Times claims to have discovered, many sentences later, is that the timing of the Trump-Bondi interaction deflates the connection.
The proximate timing of the Sentinel article and Mr. Trump’s donation, and suspicions of a quid pro quo, have driven a narrative that has dogged Mr. Trump and Ms. Bondi for three years. …
But documents obtained this week by The New York Times, including a copy of Mr. Trump’s check, at least partly undercut that timeline. Although the check was received by Ms. Bondi’s committee four days after the Sentinel report, and was recorded as such in her financial disclosure filings, it was actually dated and signed by Mr. Trump four days before the article appeared.
Well that certainly—doesn’t change a single thing.
Here’s how events line up.
2008 to 2013—60+ complaints are filed in Florida by former students of Trump University.
July 15, 2013—Donald Trump sends a $500 contribution to the Pam Bondi re-election campaign
Aug. 24—New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files a $40 million lawsuit accusing Trump University of illegal business practices.
Aug. 29—Orlando Sentinel calls Bondi’s office and asks if Florida is going to join the Trump University suit already underway in New York.
Aug. 30—Emails copied to Bondi's deputy attorney general, assistant attorney general, chief of staff, and spokeswoman discuss the New York case against Trump University along with complaints filed in Florida.
Sept. 1 (?) —Pam Bondi “personally solicits” political contribution from Donald Trump. No exact date provided.
Sept. 14—Orlando Sentinel publishes a story saying that Bondi’s office is looking into whether Florida would join the suit.
Sept. 15—Pam Bondi starts getting daily reports to let her know how the Trump University case is playing in the media.
Sept. 17—Bondi’s campaign group cashes Trump’s check for $25,000, one of Trump’s largest political payments.
Oct. 15—Orlando Sentinel notes Trump’s donation to Bondi in the middle of a potential investigation and declares that “it looks awfully fishy.”
Oct. 17—Bondi spokeswoman says “no action necessary” because Florida consumers could be compensated by New York case.
Oct. 18—Miami Herald asks is “Pam Bondi in bed with Donald Trump?” noting the timing of the contribution.
March 2014—Donald Trump provides Mar-a-lago to Pam Bondi at a $140,000 discount for a fundraising event.
The pretense has been that Bondi never knew they were considering action against Trump. Which, considering that emails circulating, and the statements of her spokesperson on the topic, would make her the only person in her office who didn’t know Trump was under investigation when she called him to personally solicit funds. From the point of the first Sentinel story, Bondi’s staff actively scanned the media, getting daily updates on how the Trump University story was playing.
The information that the New York Times finds so exculpatory is this:
… documents obtained this week by The New York Times, including a copy of Mr. Trump’s check, at least partly undercut that timeline. Although the check was received by Ms. Bondi’s committee four days after the Sentinel report, and was recorded as such in her financial disclosure filings, it was actually dated and signed by Mr. Trump four days before the article appeared.
The check was received by Bondi’s committee after the Sentinel story, but—assuming that the date on Trump’s check is correct, which is by no means a sure thing—the check was actually written before the story ran.
However, the check was written weeks after the Sentinel had made Bondi aware of the suit in New York and asked if her office was going to join. It was also written well after Bondi had called Trump and personally solicited the contribution.
Donald Trump spent a good portion of the spring unloading on Bill Clinton because the former president stepped onto a plane for twenty minutes to talk to Attorney General Loretta Lynch at a time when Hillary Clinton’s email server was being examined by the FBI.
Why would Trump be so convinced there was something going on in that time? Well, he had also had a conversation with an attorney general. Bondi called him and spoke for an undetermined time. After which Trump not only cut her one of his largest-ever political checks, but threw her a grand party full of $3,000 a plate bigwigs.
And that call came while Donald Trump was under investigation by Pam Bondi’s office. Unless Donald Trump’s check was written months, not days, before it arrived, there is nothing in the suggested timing that makes the guilt of Trump or Bondi any less likely.
And one thing that’s very clear: No matter what Bondi told Trump, but the time Trump’s check arrived, Bondi was absolutely aware of her office’s involvement—she was getting briefed on the story—but she took both Trump’s check and the use of Trump’s facilities.
It seems very likely Donald Trump thought he was delivering a bribe. It’s a dead certainty that Pam Bondi accepted one.
On a personal note: I want to pause for a moment to talk about the first sentence of the Times story. The weather sentence.
It was Aug. 29, 2013, an unremarkable day inside Florida’s whitewashed Capitol, and a typically sweltering one outside among the moss-bearded oaks and sabal palms.
Why do we need a sentence to tell us about a “typically sweltering” day among the “moss-bearded oaks?” Why is this story, which is supposedly about whether Trump paid off Bondi to keep Florida out of the Trump University suit, laden with not just an opening sentence, but opening paragraphs that would be top contenders in either the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest or a really, really bad detective novel?
And to make it even more painful, I took ten seconds to look up the weather in Tallahassee that day. High of 85, nice breeze out of the northeast. Not “sweltering” for anyone who had ever traveled south of Long Island.
Thank you, New York Times, for making my morning—which already included a Donald Trump speech—just a little more nuts.