Donald Trump contributed 10 times as much money as was allowed by law to the 2006 gubernatorial campaign of Floridas then-Attorney General Charlie Crist, according to a Huffington Post review of state campaign finance records.
The donations that exceeded the limit were all made on the same day through companies Trump owns. Trump did not disclose the connection, and regulators did not identify the gifts as coming from Trump. All told, Trump made nine contributions of $500 to Crists campaign on Aug. 25, 2005, for a total of $4,500. At the time, the maximum allowable donation in Florida from an individual or corporation was $500, a sum that Trump had already given Crists campaign as a personal donation in June of that year.
HuffPost first identified three of the nine companies last month, and has since identified another six Trump companies that made contributions over the legal limit. Its pretty clear in this case that Trump was secretly buying influence without regard to the rules, said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.