Orlando Sentinel

A state ethics panel

- By Gray Rohrer grohrer@orlandosen­tinel.com or (850) 222-5564

finds no probable cause in the Pam Bondi-Donald Trump bribery complaint.

TALLAHASSE­E — A state ethics panel on Friday decided not to look further into a complaint against 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 out 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.

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