What We Know About Trump Foundation's $25K Gift to Florida's Attorney General AG

Donald Trump met with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi today at Trump Tower as the president-elect continues a series of meetings around assembling his Cabinet and top staff.

Bondi is a vice chair on Trump's presidential transition team, but many in the public may most associate her with Trump over a past political contribution that raised questions.

The scrutiny centered around a $25,000 check that the Donald J. Trump Foundation sent to Bondi's political fundraising committee in 2013. Critics said the donation looked like an attempt to sway Bondi's office not to join a lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University. Trump and Bondi said the contribution had no connection to her office's ultimately deciding against joining the lawsuit.

Here is what we know:

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Aug. 25, 2013, that he had filed a lawsuit against Trump and Trump University. Bondi was seeking re-election in Florida that same year.

Schneiderman's lawsuit accused Trump of “mis[leading] consumers into paying for a series of expensive courses that did not deliver on their promises,” which Trump denied.

On Sept. 11, 2013, a spokeswoman for Bondi’s office confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that her office was reviewing the New York lawsuit in order to decide whether to join it, according to the Sentinel.

A few days after that announcement, Bondi’s political fundraising group, And Justice for All, confirmed that it had received a check for $25,000 on Sept. 17, 2013, from the Trump Foundation. The check, obtained by The New York Times, shows Trump signed it on Sept. 9, 2013, before the announcement by Bondi's office that it was reviewing whether to join the lawsuit.

Florida's Office of the Attorney General had received multiple consumer complaints about Trump-related seminars and education programs, most of them before Bondi was elected as the state's top prosecutor in 2010. But her office announced in mid-October of 2013 that it would not join the lawsuit.

Bondi has said the decision not to join the lawsuit against Trump University had nothing to do with the donation to her fundraising committee by the Trump Foundation.

"I never, nor was my office, investigating him. Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I've been obviously devastated over this," she said in a voicemail message to a Tampa Bay Times reporter in June, according to the newspaper.

Bondi's political consultant for her 2013 re-election campaign, Marc Reichelderfer, said she had reached out to the business mogul for a donation and had been unaware of the consumer complaints against Trump University when she did so.

Bondi’s phone call with Trump occurred “several weeks” before her office said it was considering whether to join the Trump University lawsuit, Reichelderfer told The Associated Press.

Bondi’s office said at the time she decided not to join the lawsuit that she had received only a single complaint about Trump University, according to the AP. Later her office said this statement was accurate at the time because most of the complaints were received prior to Bondi's assuming office and concerned Trump Institute, a separate corporate entity that was licensed by Trump to run his seminars but with his keeping a share of the profits, the AP reported based on depositions in the Trump University case. New York Attorney General Schneiderman sued both Trump University and Trump Institute.

Trump has said he “never” discussed the lawsuit with Bondi when she called him for a donation.

“She’s a fine person. Never spoke to her about it at all. Never.” Trump said, taking questions from campaign reporters back in September on his private plane. “Many of the attorney generals [sic] turned that case down because I'll win that case in court."

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told “Good Morning America” in September that Trump and Bondi "may have talked about anything” in their phone conversation.

Bondi endorsed Trump for president on March 14.

“People today are looking for leadership, the kind that Mr. Trump offers, that’s unafraid to tell it like it is and will do something about renewing America’s strength and greatness,” Bondi said. “That’s why I am pleased to announce my support of Donald Trump for president. We have been friends for years, and I know his family personally. I’ve seen firsthand how he leads, and how he cares deeply about the people of this country.”

Aside from any question over whether the donation was an attempt to influence Bondi, federal tax law prohibits charitable foundations from making political contributions to any candidate running for public office. The IRS slapped a $2,500 penalty on the Trump Foundation this year for violating the law through its donation to Bondi's campaign group, according to the Washington Post. Trump Organization officials told the Post that the donation to Bondi’s political fundraising committee was the result of a clerical error and that Trump paid the IRS penalty himself.

In November, shortly after winning the presidential election, Trump agreed to a $25 million settlement of three lawsuits, the one in New York plus two in California, against Trump University, with no admission of wrongdoing.

The Associated Press and ABC News’ Josh Haskell, Katherine Faulders and Meghan Keneally contributed to this report.

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