TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ A state ethics panel Friday decided not to look further into a complaint against Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi over her solicitation of a campaign donation from President Donald Trump in 2013.
The hearing conducted by the Florida Commission on Ethics was closed to the public but Tallahassee lawyer Mark Herron represented Whitfield Larrabee, the Boston attorney who filed the complaint, at the hearing and said the panel found no probable cause to investigate the matter further.
Bondi personally asked Trump for a campaign donation in August 2013. Trump's charity, the Trump Foundation, issued a $25,000 check to her political committee the following month.
Her office at the time was considering what to do about complaints lodged about Trump University, a real estate investment seminar that many customers say was worthless and swindled them of thousands of dollars.
"(Commission Chairman Matthew Carlucci) said there was no evidence of a quid pro quo, and no evidence that she even knew of the complaints to her office," Herron said.
Bondi's office eventually decided not to investigate the complaints or join a New York lawsuit against Trump University. Trump also hosted a fundraiser for Bondi later in the campaign.
After he won the presidency last fall, Trump agreed to a $25 million settlement in the New York case.
During the campaign, Trump aides admitted that the donation from his charity, which violated a federal ban on charities giving political donations, was a mistake.
Trump paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS.
Bondi has consistently maintained that she did nothing wrong. Her office could not immediately be reached for comment.
A state prosecutor looking into another complaint from Larrabee earlier this month determined there wasn't any evidence of wrongdoing by Bondi or Trump.
