Trump defends donations to Clinton Foundation. Does the Donald's explanation settle the issue?

Donald Trump has come under fire during the campaign for his supporting Hillary Clinton and specifically, the Clinton Foundation. Records show Trump donated $250,000 to the Foundation and many conservatives have questioned how he can run as a Republican while playing on his extensive ties with the Clintons.

The Hill:

Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday explained why he gave a quarter of a million dollars to the Clinton Foundation before he ran for president.

“I did give to the Clinton Foundation. What I didn’t know is they’d be using it for private aircraft and things like that,” Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“The Clinton Foundation was helping with Haiti and with lots of other things, and I thought it was going to do some good work, so it didn’t make any difference to me,” he added.

The real estate mogul also pointed to his business interests in cultivating support among politicians from each party.

“Again, I was a businessman, and it was my obligation to get along with everybody, including the Clintons, including Democrats and liberals and Republicans and conservatives,” he said. “As a businessman, I had an obligation to do that.”

As a high profile member of the New York establishment, Trump naturally gravitated toward the former president and his wife, the sitting Senator from the state. That he felt it necessary as a businessman to cultivate the Clintons is not in dispute. But some of the glowing words he had for Hillary are not easily reconciled with his current thoughts about her.

Is insincerity a part of "getting along" with everybody? That's what most Republicans will have to decide before they vote.

Really? “Wall Street” connections? And what would those be? The fact that his wife works for Goldman Sachs (in which Donald Trump owns stock) and that he has a loan with Goldman and one with Citibank? (So do I by the way, as do millions of Americans?)

The same question could be posed to him as well. Why would a billionaire want a job that only pays $400,000 a year?

As for waiting, I’d like to know why Trump paid Salvatore Testa, a known Philadelphia mob boss, twice the market value for a bar he bought from Testa. I’d like to know about his relationship to Nicademo Scarfo and Phillip Leonetti, as well as Anthony Salerno. How is it that the champion of the fight against illegal immigration hired Polish illegals to demolish the Bonwit Teller building, which made way for the Trump Tower, avoiding pension funds, unemployment, and other taxes and fees.

“In a ruling released on Thursday, a Federal judge found that Mr. Trump, a group of his associates and a union official conspired to avoid paying pension and welfare-fund contributions by hiring the immigrants to demolish the old Bonwit Teller building on East 57th Street at Fifth Avenue to make way for Trump Tower.” Yeah, I know, “that was a long time ago!” http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/27/nyregion/judge-says-trump-tower-builders-cheated-union-on-pension-funds.html

God help us all! It’s Obama and character worship all over again.

The media and his supporters pay no attention to his past; nothing he has said or done at any point in his life has any bearing on the election; and a bunch of buffoons and idiots give us yet another candidate about whom we (collectively) know nothing. Add to that the fact that he can’t win a national election...

BOHICA America...

Right, but we actually do know a few things about him, none good. He's RICH, did you know that?

He's got a nasty vulgar mouth. Did you know that?

He don't take religion seriously. Did you know that?

He is a waa waa cry baby if he don't get his way, bet you didn't know that.

He has no character, but everyone knows that, it is on display daily.

I think that is enough for me to make a intelligent decision. Because #1 he has no solid stance on any issue of importance. He may, He may not, perhaps, most likely not, but maybe I will. Yep good solid stance on all things important to America, if you can find them in there somewhere.

Really? Wall Street connections? And what would those be?

One of his biggest backers is a NY hedge fund CEO...do you think that kind of support comes without strings?

The same question could be posed to him as well.

Trump isn't borrowing money to run for President so in his case the question, why borrow millions for a job that pays much less, is moot.

As for why Trump wants to be President, he repeatedly said he's tired of stupid politicians and shifty government lawyers running this country into the ground.

You summed it up nicely with the word moot. Everything that Trump has ever said or done that is contrary to his (current) public persona is moot. What he said five weeks, five months or five years ago is of no consequence, right?
It is only what he says today or tomorrow that really counts.

So Cruz has the backing of a NY hedge fund CEO. Is the man a convicted felon, under investigation or indictment? You realize that Trump is probably friends with every hedge fund CEO and investment bank president in New York, right? You don’t see a problem with that, but Cruz having the backing of one (or even two or three) is a really big deal.

Since you don’t seem to care about Trump’s connection to LCN bosses or the fact that he worked with union leaders to defraud the union pension fund, repeat after me, “I love Donald Trump, Trump is infallible...” and keep repeating.

You do realize that you’re about to vote for a man about whom you know no more than you do about Obama, right? And you do realize that there is no way, with a 60% average unfavorable rating in nationwide polls, there’s no way he can win a national election.

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