Kochs dismiss bombshell Mark Cuban allegation about trying to bribe Donald Trump out of the race

AP Photo/FIle

The mega-billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, responded late Friday to a bombshell claim from billionaire businessman Mark Cuban alleging they supposedly tried to bribe Republican nominee Donald Trump to get out of the race.

"That is simply not correct," Steve Lombardo, chief communications and marketing officer at Koch Industries, told Business Insider. "I really don't have anything more to add to that other than it is incorrect."

Cuban, a prominent supporter of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, told a New York Times reporter aboard Clinton's plane following a rally for the candidate in Pittsburgh that the Kochs "tried" to get Trump out of the presidential race.

"They tried," he said, when a reporter mentioned the Kochs. "I know they did."

Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," added that the Kochs "didn't offer [Trump] enough" to drop out.

He later clarified he didn't mean the Kochs were involved.

Writing to The Dallas Morning News later on Friday, the billionaire said in an email that "someone" tried to recruit him to make a Trump offer.

"I had discussion about a Trump buyout," Cuban wrote. "That's as much as I can tell u."

Cuban did not say who was involved and said he did not ask many questions about the idea. The conversation was held shortly after the Democratic National Convention in July. He could not confirm that an official offer was made.

"Supposedly an amount was presented to Trump and he said no," he wrote, adding that the proposal "sure seemed serious."

It was discussed as a "buyout."

"The word bribe was never used," he wrote. "It was a buyout. That's the way it was discussed."

Charles and David Koch, two of the biggest donors in Republican politics with a combined net worth of nearly $100 billion, have abstained from boosting Trump's candidacy. Another Koch brother, Bill, hosted an August fundraiser for Trump at his Cape Cod residence.

The Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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