Trump’s claims over donation to Florida attorney general contradicted by her spokesman while the Republican distances himself from Obama birther theories

Quid pro quo

“I never spoke to her, first of all. She’s a fine person beyond reproach.” – 5 September, Cleveland



Trump has denied speaking to Pam Bondi, Florida’s attorney general, before his Donald J Trump Foundation made a $25,000 donation in 2013 to a political group supporting her. Four days before the gift, Bondi’s office had announced that it was considering whether to prosecute Trump University, which has been accused of defrauding students of tens of thousands of dollars.

Bondi’s spokesman, Marc Reichelderfer, has contradicted Trump’s account, saying she personally solicited Trump before her office announced a potential investigation. “The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution,” Reichelderfer told the Associated Press. Trump also held a $3,000-per-person fundraiser for Bondi after she declined to prosecute Trump University, according to the Huffington Post.



Political donations by charities are illegal, and the IRS fined Trump $2,500.

The businessman has previously boasted about paying for political influence. “I give to everybody. When they call, I give,” he said in an August 2015 debate. “And do you know what, when I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.”



Budget cuts

“As soon as I take office, I will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military. It is so depleted. We will rebuild our military,” – 7 September, Philadelphia

This pledge to restore military spending cut by the so-called sequester of 2013 is a reversal: that year he told Fox News that the budget cuts were not deep enough.

“It’s a very small percentage of the cuts that should be made,” Trump said. “Frankly this is a very minor amount of the cuts that have to be made ultimately, and a lot of people are saying that.

“I think you’re going to have to do a lot more cutting,” he said, adding that cuts were one of the ways to “get our country great again, because it’s not great right now”. He ended the interview by saying he was not interested in running for president in 2016.

Conspiracy

“Do you think your birther position has hurt you among African Americans?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t even talk about it any more, Bill. Because, you know, I just don’t bother talking about it.”

“No, I know. But it’s there. It’s on the record, you know?”

“But I don’t know. I guess, I guess with, maybe some. I don’t know why. I really don’t know why. But I don’t think – very few people, you are the first one that’s brought that up in a while.” – 6 September, interview with Bill O’Reilly

Less than a day earlier, Philadelphia’s WPVI asked Trump about his years of questioning whether Barack Obama, born in Hawaii to an American mother, is a US citizen. “You don’t talk about the birth certificate any more. Do you regret even bringing it up?”

“I don’t talk about it any more,” he replied. “I don’t talk about it.”

Trump’s refusal to talk about the conspiracy theory that vaulted him into national politics – and had him mocked him at the 2011 White House correspondents dinner – is relatively new. At a conservative conference last year he not only rehashed the saga but bragged about drawing Obama into the fracas. He also questioned the actual certificate: “Now all we have to do is find out whether or not it’s real.”

In the year since, Trump has never renounced the conspiracy theory, though his running mate, Mike Pence, has rejected it.

Iraq

“As much as I didn’t want to be there, we should’ve left a small force [in Iraq], and really Isis just evolved out of all of the turmoil, all of the weakness, all of the stupidity of decisions from Hillary Clinton, from Barack Obama.” – 5 September, Virginia Beach

Besides Trump’s false claim that he always opposed the Iraq war, he also supported complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2007 and 2008.

“You know how they get out? They get out. That’s how they get out. Declare victory and leave,” he told CNN in 2007. “This is a total catastrophe, and you might as well get out now because you’re just wasting time, and lives.”

Apportioning blame on to Obama and Clinton also ignores George W Bush’s presidency and that Isis grew greatly in Syria’s civil war, which Obama largely avoided before the terror group returned in concentrated numbers to Iraq.

Taxes

“As far as my taxes are concerned, the only one that cares is the press, I will tell you. And even the press, I’ll tell you, it’s not a big deal … I think people don’t care.” – 5 September, interview with ABC News



Recent polls show Americans do care about Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, which would show how much he pays in taxes, how much he gives to charity and, in its clearest estimate, how much he is worth. A recent Quinnipiac poll found 74% of 1,498 likely voters want Trump to release his tax returns, as every major presidential candidate has done for the last 40 years. Sixty-two percent of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to release his returns.

A recent Monmouth University poll found 62% of voters believe it’s important that the candidates release their returns. Fifty-two percent of the voters surveyed believe that Trump has something in his tax returns that he does not want the public to know. Only 24% believe his excuse that he should not release them during an IRS audit. No law prohibits the release of tax returns during an audit.

Deportation

“I never talked about dragging people out of their homes, Bill. I never talked about that.” – 6 September, interview with Bill O’Reilly



In a 10 November debate Trump expressed support for Dwight Eisenhower’s Operation Wetback, the forcible deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants, sometimes under inhumane circumstances. He was pressed on this support in an interview with O’Reilly, who himself called the operation “really brutal”.

“Well, well, I’ve heard it both ways. I’ve heard good reports, I’ve heard bad reports,” Trump told the Fox News host. “We would do it in a very humane way.”