Election Complaint Filed With DOJ Against Florida AG for 2013 Trump Foundation Contribution
Pam Bondi's fundraising group received a 2013 check from the Trump Foundation.
-- A Democratic group affiliated with an anti-Trump super PAC filed a complaint with the Department of Justice on Wednesday night against Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the $25,000 her re-election fundraising group accepted from the Trump Foundation in 2013.
"We believe that Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General, and Donald Trump have violated federal voting laws including but not limited to bribery across state lines by way of a $25,000 campaign contribution from Trump to Bondi during her 2013 election by way of the Trump Foundation in return for AG Bondi dropping an investigation into Trump University. We ask the DOJ to investigate this matter," a complaint filed by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump reads.
Now that a complaint has been filed, the Department of Justice is obligated to review it and respond to the group that filed it.
“This potential bribery by Donald Trump is further evidence that he and his campaign have no respect for the American democratic process that our nation was built upon,” said Jon Cooper, chairman of the Democratic Coalition Against Trump. “Mr. Trump is completely devoid of any sense of ethics, accountability and responsibility. We cannot allow him to make it anywhere near the Oval Office.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
A political consultant for the Florida attorney general's 2013 campaign told The Associated Press in June that Bondi called Trump "several weeks" before her office said it was considering joining a New York lawsuit against Trump University back in 2013 and Bondi was not aware then of the complaints filed with her Florida office against Trump University.
The Florida AG's office sent a statement to ABC News today noting there was never an investigation by the AG's Office into Trump University in 2013, adding that there was no basis for an investigation because at the time, the office "had received only one consumer complaint."
"[A]ny newspaper report that suggests this office had an investigation or was considering opening an investigation or bringing a lawsuit against Trump University at any point in 2013 is completely false and requires a retraction," Whitney Ray, director of media relations for the Office of the Attorney General, said in a statement.
The Republican nominee for president told reporters on Monday that he “never” discussed the lawsuit with Bondi when she called him for a donation.
Trump paid a $2,500 penalty to the IRS this year because it was his charitable foundation that made the political contribution to Bondi's campaign group, a violation of tax law, The Washington Post reported last week.
Democratic Coalition Against Trump called on the IRS Thursday night to revoke the Trump Foundation's 501(c)(3) status that allows the nonprofit to be tax exempt.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an advocacy group chaired by a prominent Hillary Clinton backer, filed a complaint on Wednesday with the IRS, requesting a probe further into the foundation's contribution to Bondi.
The Democratic Coalition Against Trump is an arm of Keep America Great, a Super PAC formed this year by Democrats with the goal of preventing Trump from becoming president.
ABC News' Jack Cloherty contributed to this report.