"The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something -- that was generous and gave me money -- was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida --"
The WaPo story says:
Trump had donated to the state GOP, and, according to Thrasher and another former state official who held meetings on the issue on Bush’s behalf, made his views known in the state capital.
So Trump was correct on the specific charge that he gave Bush money because he gave it to the state Republican party instead.
Trump did try to influence casino gambling in Florida, which by itself is not a problem. Trump could have admitted his general interest in the issue and still deny the specific charge of donating to Bush.
I chalk this one up to a minor mis-remembering of a side fact in the heat of moment of a debate, while still being right on Bush's main charge that he's his own man and can't be bought by special interest money as proven by taking Trump's money and not delivering casino gambling. Bush never took Trump money as he claimed in the debate.
This reminds me of when Al Gore tried to show leadership examples in a debate by saying he flew in a helicopter over Texas floods when he never did.
-PJ
I am capitalist but Trump is the mafia,
Jeez I wanna like the guy but I know he will leave my dead ass cold on the side of the road