Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has throughout his career given campaign contributions to state attorneys general while they weighed decisions affecting his business, a review of his political donations shows.
The issue recently surfaced during a controversy over his 2013 campaign contribution to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was reviewing a fraud case against Trump University.
Records show Mr. Trump, his family and associates donated in particular to attorneys general in New York, from Robert Abrams in the 1980s through incumbent Eric Schneiderman. The money was given often when Mr. Trumps companies had decisions pending in these offices. Attorneys general are law-enforcement officials with significant oversight of business practices in their states.
Mr. Trump in his presidential bid has portrayed himself as an outsider independent from special interests and what he called the rigged political system. The candidate and his aides have said making legal contributions doesnt put him in the same category as what they describe as career politicians, such as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, his opponent for the White House.
He has always said hes given to politicians his entire career and he thinks the system is broken, said Alan Garten, general counsel at the Trump Organization, an umbrella company for Mr. Trumps businesses. Thinking that the system is broken doesnt preclude him from giving to politicians when they are knocking on his door 365 days of the year.
Mr. Trump has been open about his motives. As a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do, he told The Wall Street Journal in July 2015 in discussing donations to Mrs. Clintons 2008 presidential campaign. As a businessman, I need that.
In total, Mr. Trump has given about $140,000 to a dozen people who either were state attorneys general or running for the post from 2001 to 2014, according to donation records. Some of the recipients returned the contributions. Totals before 2001 werent available.
Cynthia Darrison, a former fundraiser for ex-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, said Mr. Trump persuaded friends and colleagues to donate, too. He did a fundraiser for Eliot, she said. He had all his vendors come in and write checksno different than anybody who I asked to raise $250,000.
A few weeks ago, Mr. Trump acknowledged paying a $2,500 fine to the Internal Revenue Service for a donation to a committee supporting the 2014 re-election of Floridas Ms. Bondi. The $25,000 donation was paid by his charitable foundation, an improper use of nonprofit funds under IRS rules. Mr. Garten said it was a clerical error.
Ms. Bondis office at the time was reviewing a lawsuit by the New York attorney general alleging that Trump University, a real-estate academy, was a scam. A spokesman for Ms. Bondi has said she declined to pursue any action against Trump University because it had yielded only one consumer complaint in Florida and the business was already being investigated by New York.
