"Trump University:" The Palm- Greasing And The Coverup

The plot continues to thicken in the "Trump University" scandal:

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [Ed.:  who's under indictment on three felony fraud charges] moved Friday to muzzle a former state regulator who says he was ordered in 2010 to drop a fraud investigation into Trump University for political reasons.

Paxton's office issued a cease and desist letter to former Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens after he made public copies of a 14-page internal summary of the state's case against Donald Trump for scamming millions from students of his now-defunct real estate seminar.

Owens, now retired, said his team had built a solid case against the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but was told to drop it after Trump's company agreed to cease operations in Texas.

The former state regulator told The Associated Press on Friday that decision was highly unusual and left the bilked students on their own to attempt to recover their tuition money from the celebrity businessman.  (our emphasis)

More from HuffPo, citing an investigative report by the Houston Chronicle (pay wall blocks reading), and the involvement of the current despicable Texas Governor and then- Attorney General Greg Abbott:

One lawyer who worked closely in the investigation called the probe into Trump U. “an extremely strong case,” and records show that everything was set for a lawsuit unless the business agreed to a $5.4 million settlement with the state.

But then... nothing happened. The office dropped the case. And curiously, Trump donated $35,000 to Abbott’s bid for the governorship in 2013, as reported by The Associated Press. (Coincidentally or not, that’s how much the “elite” Trump U. seminar package cost.)

A spokesman for Abbott, now the governor of Texas, told the Chronicle that there was no relationship between the probe and the later campaign cash, and that Abbott acted in Texans’ best interest by pushing Trump U. out of the state. David Morales, a former deputy to Abbott when Abbott was attorney general, told the Chronicle on Friday that Abbott was not involved in his own office’s decision not to sue Trump U.  [Ed.:  riiiiight!]

Florida is another state whose Republican Attorney General dropped an investigation into claims of fraud, again under "unusual circumstances" =cough= bribery? =cough=:

The other report, from the Orlando Sentinel, may be more egregious because it suggests the Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, agreed in 2013 to give up her own probe of Trump Institute — a local affiliate of Trump U. — after the businessman made a $25,000 donation to her re-election bid.

Bondi actually knew about Schneiderman’s lawsuit in New York and briefly considered joining it, promising to look into similar allegations from Floridians who said they’d been scammed. But three days later, a political action committee that supported Bondi received a check from Trump, and then nothing came of the investigation.

Pressed by the Sentinel about the Trump donation and about why she didn’t look into the complaints, Bondi didn’t respond.  (our emphasis)

Calling the Justice Department!  Calling the Justice Department!

That Republicans are fraudsters always looking to line their pockets at the expense of the rest of us is not news.  Nor is the venality and corruption of Republican "presidential" nominee Donald "Rump" Trump.  What makes this so compelling is that the story of this insider palm- greasing that they've engaged in so casually is coming out at at time when the corporate media is finally being forced to take note -- by Rump himself! -- of what a hot mess he is, and why he's unfit for the presidency in so many, many ways.