Democrats seek probe of Trump donation to Florida attorney general

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida Democrats demanded investigations on Tuesday into a donation made by a Donald Trump foundation to the state's attorney general, citing an Associated Press report that the Republican attorney general solicited the money around the time her office was considering a lawsuit against Trump University. At question is a 2013 donation of $25,000 from a Trump charity to a political committee supporting the attorney general, Pam Bondi, that has received media scrutiny this year. “Florida’s top law enforcement official solicited a donation from someone she was supposed to be investigating for fraud," Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant said in a statement. "She even went as far as to campaign for Trump, who has made a habit of bragging about buying politicians. Floridians deserve answers and Pam Bondi must be held accountable," Tant added. Bondi, who has endorsed Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, on Tuesday called the AP report misleading. "My office has made public every document on this issue, which shows no one in my office ever opened an investigation on Trump University nor was there a basis for doing so," she said in a statement. "Any news story that suggests otherwise is completely false." The Trump campaign did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The Associated Press reported on Monday that Bondi solicited the donation personally, around the time her office was debating whether to join a New York state investigation into Trump's defunct real estate training school. Trump is fighting lawsuits that accuse his school venture of misleading thousands of people who paid up to $35,000 for seminars to learn about the billionaire's real estate investment strategies. Bondi ended the lawsuit deliberations after the check arrived, the AP reported. At the time of the donation, she was seeking re-election. The Tampa Bay Times quoted a Bondi spokesman saying on Monday that documents released in the case "consistently demonstrate that through due diligence, staff assessed matters brought to their attention and properly determined that New York litigation seeks relief for any and all aggrieved consumers, regardless of their state of residence." (Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Leslie Adler)