But let’s be clear: While Senator Rubio may be trying to keep his distance, he can’t run away from his support for Trump, along with his divisive rhetoric, dangerous temperament, and constant lies.
OF COURSE PAM BONDI IS THERE!
Florida AG Pam Bondi, who was at center of Trump Foundation scandal, speaking before Trump here in Orlando pic.twitter.com/qDGIuyWuz4
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) November 2, 2016
ORLANDO —
Trump arrives in Trump Force One with Reince and Pam Bondi.
— Kevin Cirilli (@kevcirilli) November 2, 2016
Pam Bondi now speaking at Trump rally in Orlando. “7 days from now, we’re going to wake up to the sound of President Trump”
— Steven Lemongello (@SteveLemongello) November 2, 2016
Florida AG Pam Bondi up next ahead of Trump rally. Recall this controversy over corruption allegations: https://t.co/rXR5TAYX4G
— Sarah McCammon NPR (@sarahmccammon) November 2, 2016
…BUT NO TRUMP-ENDORSER RUBIO?
In Orlando, Donald Trump’s rally crowd chants: “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!” A guy near me shouts: “And Rubio!”
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) November 2, 2016
Rep. Raoul Labrador is at both of Trump’s FL events so far. Notable that the only Hispanic rep with Trump isn’t from Florida but Idaho.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) November 2, 2016
ID Rep. Raul Labrador speaking for Trump in Miami, where 3 local GOP House members & Sen Rubio won’t stump w/candidate
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 2, 2016
Rubio says he won’t be campaigning with Trump in all-important Florida https://t.co/FplJ4GdFtO
— Jay Weaver (@jayhweaver) November 2, 2016
]]>“Let’s make sure we keep the House,” Sharon Day says at Miami Trump rally.
“Except Marco Rubio,” man yells. (He’s a Senator. But details…)— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) November 2, 2016
Pam Bondi: “National studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy.” PAM BONDI: “Unfortunately, national studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy. Businesses across the country are raising their prices in order to compensate for their added costs due to Obama’s health care plan. If they aren’t raising prices, they’re cutting jobs as a result of the added cost, both of which hurt our economy. According to a Mercer survey, more than 60 percent of employers expect the federal health care plan to increase their health costs. Twenty percent of those employers are bracing for at least a 5 percent increase in costs.” [Florida Chamber of Commerce, 11/28/12]
THE TRUTH: Politifact Florida: “We find no studies already showing the negative effects or evidence that businesses are cutting jobs or raising prices now. We rate Bondi’s statement False.” “It’s true that some large businesses — specifically, those with more than 50 employees who do not currently offer their employees health insurance — will face new costs because of the health care law. Starting in 2014, they will have to offer their employees health insurance or pay a financial penalty to the federal government. But Bondi’s comments ignore two points: These requirements haven’t taken effect yet, and it’s not clear whether businesses will find themselves forced to raise prices or cut jobs. We found no credible national studies showing these widespread effects, and certainly not showing those effects right now. We don’t doubt there’s anxiety among some businesses over what’s to come under the health care law, and maybe some are talking about whether they’ll have to raise prices or cut jobs. But Bondi didn’t talk about planning, she talked about what’s occuring right now, and we find no studies already showing the negative effects or evidence that businesses are cutting jobs or raising prices now. We rate Bondi’s statement False.” [Politifact, Florida, 11/30/15]
Pam Bondi: “We’re the only system of federalism in the world.” “And I mean, we’re the only system of federalism in the world. And I think what this does, if we — and we are going to have a majority of the states joining in. And I think it’s going to vindicate our Constitution and what our Founding Fathers believed that our system should be made of.” [Fox News’ On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, 11/9/10]
THE TRUTH: Politifact Florida rated her statement False and said the United States was not the only federalist country in the world. “Appearing on Fox News, Bondi got off track in discussing a legal challenge to the federal health care law by saying the United States has the ‘only system of federalism in the world.’ The United States may have been the first, but it’s far from the only. We rate this statement False.” [Politifact Florida, 11/10/10]
]]>LIE: Pam Bondi: “Hillary will stack the Supreme Court with liberal justices who will allow government to continue its rampage against our individual rights with utter contempt for our Second Amendment.”
THE TRUTH
New York Times: “The notion that she would nominate judges who would somehow overrule the Second Amendment is a Republican talking point that is not based on statements or past actions by Mrs. Clinton.”
Mrs. Clinton has not said whom she would appoint, but the notion that she would nominate judges who would somehow overrule the Second Amendment is a Republican talking point that is not based on statements or past actions by Mrs. Clinton. She does favor new gun control rules, but she has said she would seek them through legislation or executive action.
Hillary Clinton: “I respect the 2nd Amendment.”
‘I respect the 2nd Amendment. I respect the rights of lawful gun owners to own guns, to use their guns,’ she said. ‘But I also believe that most lawful gun owners whom I have spoken with for many years across our country also want to be sure that we keep those guns out of the wrong hands. And as president, I will work to try to bridge this divide, which I think has been polarizing and, frankly, doesn’t reflect the common sense of the American people.’
CNN’s Reality Check rated the claim that Hillary Clinton would abolish the Second Amendment False.
So, is Cox correct in his claim that Clinton would abolish the Second Amendment? As CNN reported in May: “Clinton … has called for universal background checks and stricter controls on firearms, but has never called for the abolition of the Second Amendment. In fact, on her website, she calls gun ownership ‘part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities.’ Verdict: False.
CNN: “Clinton has never argued for abolishing the Second Amendment.”
Trump’s wild claim comes on the heels of an unrelenting barrage of attacks the newly minted presumptive Republican nominee has fired off against Clinton in recent days. Clinton has never argued for abolishing the Second Amendment but has called for universal background checks and stricter controls on firearms.
CNN: Hillary Clinton “has called for universal background checks and stricter controls on firearms.”
Trump’s wild claim comes on the heels of an unrelenting barrage of attacks the newly minted presumptive Republican nominee has fired off against Clinton in recent days. Clinton has never argued for abolishing the Second Amendment but has called for universal background checks and stricter controls on firearms.
LIE: Pam Bondi suggested the U.S. isn’t “really coming after” ISIS. “Are you ready to send ISIS a message that we’re really coming after them?”
THE TRUTH
Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria have killed more than 6,400 Islamic State fighters in the past three months, and the militant group is showing the effect of the losses, according to coalition military statistics. Casualty counts have not been a reliable measure of success against the Islamic State in the past because it replaced fallen fighters with new recruits. But as offensives by Iraqi troops reclaim territory from the radical group, the Islamic State is losing its ability to conscript fighters from areas it had controlled, which had been the major source of new troops. U.S. commanders say the combination of airstrikes and Iraqi ground offensives has weakened the terror group in Iraq and Syria and hurt its morale. ‘We are noticing they are not quite the same skill level that they once were,’ Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top coalition commander, said in an interview. ‘Maybe they’re having trouble replacing quality with quality.’ Defections appear to be increasing, and the group’s ability to mount offensives has waned, MacFarland said. ‘We take that as a positive indicator that we’re starting to hit them where it hurts.’
President Obama will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul, the largest city still controlled by the Islamic State, a deployment intended to capitalize on recent battlefield gains that also illustrates the obstacles that Mr. Obama has faced in trying to wind down America’s wars. The additional troops, announced here on Monday by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, are the latest escalation of the American military role in Iraq by Mr. Obama, who withdrew the last American soldiers from Iraq at the end of 2011. He began sending them back three years later after Islamic State fighters swept into the country from Syria. Many of the newly deployed troops will be based at an airfield 40 miles south of Mosul that was reclaimed by Iraqi soldiers on Saturday. Administration officials said the airfield would be critical to a successful military operation because the United States could use it as a staging area to provide logistical support to Iraqi forces as they try to retake Mosul.
“It’s no surprise that Trump is campaigning with two of Florida’s most fraudulent elected officials,” said Brad Woodhouse, President of Correct The Record. “Despite potentially violating federal law, Trump bought and paid for Bondi’s support, and the Attorney General’s actions make it clear that she is willing to ignore her duty to protect consumers in order to line her pockets. It only makes sense that Trump would also have the support of Governor Scott, who oversaw one of the largest cases of health care fraud, exploiting both the government and patients. Sound familiar? Oh, yeah. Just like Donald Trump’s corrupt Trump U scheme to prey upon working families, defrauding them of thousands for nothing but to fatten his wallet. Americans cannot afford elected leaders who take advantage of their constituents, which is why America cannot afford Donald Trump as president.”
Pam Bondi personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump shortly before her attorney general’s office dropped a potential lawsuit against Trump University. “Florida’s attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates The new disclosure from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s spokesman to The Associated Press on Monday provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trump’s $25,000 donation to Bondi. The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondi’s re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 — four days after Bondi’s office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University’s activities, according to a 2013 report in the Orlando Sentinel. After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.”
New York’s attorney general: Trump University “was clearly a way to separate people who were desperate to make money in hard economic times from their own cash and to get it into the pocket of Mr. Trump and his cronies.” “Schneiderman told ABC News that he is not worrying about the confluence of the campaign and his case. The documents, he said, only served to offer further proof that the operation was aimed less at teaching students the skills needed to buy and sell real state and more about making money for Trump. ‘It was clearly a way to separate people who were desperate to make money in hard economic times from their own cash and to get it into the pocket of Mr. Trump and his cronies,’ Schneiderman said.”
Texas’ attorney general: Trump University made promises to students that were “virtually impossible to achieve.” “The Texas Attorney General’s Office opened a deceptive trade practices investigation of Trump University in 2010 and chased the business out of the state, saying the promises made to students were ‘virtually impossible to achieve,’ according to documents unearthed by a Democratic super PAC. Assistant Attorney General Rick Berlin wrote to Donald Trump’s lawyers in June 2010 that Trump University seminars – for which students paid thousands of dollars – were targeted at real estate novices and promised ‘to teach these novices everything they need to know to be a successful residential real estate broker — in 3 days.’ But in Texas, ‘to become licensed as a real estate broker you must have 900 hours of classroom instruction and 2 years selling experience,’ Berlin said, in the memo the Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century uncovered through a public records request and provided to USA TODAY. The information given to students by Trump University ‘is essentially unusable,’ and students ‘will be unable to recoup their investment in the course, much less make a profit, as promised by Trump U,’ Berlin wrote.”
Rick Scott oversaw what was at the time the largest Medicare fraud in history. “The Florida Democratic Party said Scott ‘oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.’ The Columbia/HCA settlement has since been surpassed in dollar value, though the bigger cases involved Medicare somewhat less directly. Because the Democratic Party could have been a bit more specific in its wording — by saying that Scott oversaw the largest Medicare fraud at the time — we rate the claim Mostly True.”
A former employee alleged that Rick Scott “was the leader of a criminal enterprise” and that his “company hurt seniors, it hurt taxpayers, it hurt everyone.” “‘There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Scott was the leader of a criminal enterprise,’’ said John Schilling, a former HCA accountant who worked with the FBI in 1996 through 2003, at a press conference organized by the Charlie Crist campaign. […] ‘The fraud at Rick Scott’s company hurt seniors, it hurt taxpayers, it hurt everyone,’’ Schilling said Monday, as he read from a statement. ‘It was stealing from the American taxpayers and eroding the Medicare program designed to care for the elderly. ’He likes to say he wasn’t questioned but I am a witness and I was an FBI informant. Fraud was in the DNA of Rick Scott’s company from the very beginning and he was the father.’”
Rick Scott admitted that he “was in charge and even questioned by authorities.” “‘The McCollum crowd says the hospital company I started was fined by the government the Medicare fraud. Unfortunately that’s true.’ Scott said in the 2010 television ad dubbed ‘Truth’ and is available here. ‘I was in charge and even questioned by authorities. But that’s not what matters. What matters is that the company made mistakes and as CEO I take responsibility and learn from it.’”
Rick Scott’s company committed fraud that led to 14 criminal convictions and $1.7 billion in fines for fraudulent Medicare overpayment. “The ultimate settlement led 14 criminal convictions and Columbia/HCA forfeiting $1.7 billion in fines for fraudulent Medicare overpayments. The fraud included ‘several types of fraud under Rick Scott’s leadership,’’ he said. The fraud included: cost report fraud, physician kickback fraud, upcoding on inpatient emissions, upcoding on lab procedures and inappropriate lab and in-home visits.”
Donald Trump has donated at least $100,000 to Rick Scott’s political committee. “Now Donald Trump has emerged as the clear frontrunner, and — surprise! — he is building a Florida team dominated by strong Rick Scott loyalists: Susie Wiles, Scott’s former campaign manager, is on board. So is Sarasota GOP Chairman Joe Gruters, an early Scott endorser in 2010 whom the governor appointed to FSU’s board of trustees in 2011. Scott surely appreciates that Trump has donated at least $100,000 to his political committee.”
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