We know this, because the AP had a paragraph mentioning it in a broader story about the failed real estate training program.
Trump University Model: Sell Hard, Demand to see a warrant. Jeff Horwitz and Michael Biesecker, AP.com
Besides the probe that led to Attorney General Schneiderman's suit in New York, the office of then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, opened a civil investigation of "possibly deceptive trade practices." Abbott's probe was quietly dropped in 2010 when Trump University agreed to end its operations in Texas. Trump subsequently donated $35,000 to Abbott's successful gubernatorial campaign, according to records.
It is important to note that we did not hear about this due to the diligent reporting of the Texas Lock-Step Political Media. Oh sure, NOW they're reporting it (frequently classifying it as "BREAKING!" news hilariously) but during the time, and even in the run-up to the last election, it apparently wasn't a priority for the TLSPM. Now however, all over it. Like. A. Rash.
This shouldn't surprise you much, because the story and, more importantly, the manner in which it's been reported, says as much about the TLSPM than it does about Abbott himself.
For one, the idea that there is a group of reporters in Austin furiously beating the bushes in Austin, looking to uncover nefarious dealings under the Pink Dome is both a romanticized myth, and a lie. In fact, you have a small (and getting smaller) group of cub reporters whose main job is attending press conferences and speaking with Democratic Opposition Research teams, and advocacy groups, in order to be fed stories.
What this story really suggests is that the Oppo research team for then-Democratic Superwoman Wendy(?!?) Davis was not necessarily all that robust. Neither were the teams for Abbott's primary opponents. (To be fair however, the field did pretty much clear out of him) Despite this, you would have thought that some Republican with aspirations to be Governor might have uncovered what is basically a public record events and "connected the dots" as reporters like to say.
Secondly this rolls back the classic lie that "reading a daily newspaper is the only way to be informed". No, it's really not. In fact, given the rather miserable state of news-gathering organizations these days I'd say reading a newspaper has fallen in importance to reading a gossip rag. Today most, if not all, stories are force fed to a group of reporters who have become lazy and over-reliant on institutional sources. If you're not getting your news from a variety of sources, you're really missing out.
Third, it's high-time we all come to the conclusion that all politicians, even the ones that we choose to like, are at their core political animals who would strongly consider sub-letting their children for a six figure donation, IF they thought the public wouldn't find out about it that is. In the corporate world "office politics" is a bad thing. In politics they are the rules of the game. We put people in a position where we hold them up to be experts on everything, and then act surprised when they sub-let their expertise to people who are willing to give them money to listen to it.
I for one am shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that there is gambling at this establishment. But we shouldn't be, and we shouldn't be surprised that the TLSPM IS shocked because it's pretty clear that they've been taking part in it for a while now.
