The state ethics watchdog has launched a probe into whether state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman illegally solicited campaign contributions from Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband while investigating The Donald’s for-profit school, The Post has learned.
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics issued subpoenas to Ivanka and other execs at the Trump Organization who also may have been hit up for cash.
JCOPE is trying to determine if Schneiderman violated the Public Officers Law by “barraging” them with fundraising solicitations — while also suggesting he would back off his own fraud investigation into Florida-based Trump University.
The inquiry, sources familiar with the probe said, is also looking into the role of lawyer Avi Schick. He was representing the Trump Organization in its response to the AG’s probe into Trump U. At the same time, Schick was also helping raise funds for Schneiderman’s re-election campaign, sources said.
“We think it’s great news that JCOPE has taken our complaint seriously and appears to be conducting an investigation into very serious allegations and breach of public trust that we raised more than a year ago,” said Trump Organization VP George Sorial.
JCOPE spokesman John Milgrim declined to comment.
A spokesman for Schneiderman — the state’s top law enforcement officer — also declined to comment.
Schick did not return calls.
In the ethics complaint, filed more than a year ago, Donald Trump claimed Schneiderman pushed Ivanka and her newspaper-publisher husband, Jared Kushner, to host a fundraising breakfast for him at Jean-Georges, dine with him at Lure Fishbar in Soho, and have drinks with him at The Four Seasons.
“During many of these targeted solicitations, Mr. Schneiderman, on his own initiative, brought up his office’s inquiry into [Trump] . . . [and] assured [Ivanka] and others that they should not be concerned since the investigation was ‘going nowhere,’ ” the Trump complaint said.
As it turned out, Schneiderman filed a civil suit against Trump U. in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming massive consumer fraud. Some of the charges were dismissed and the case is pending.
Schneiderman could theoretically be slapped with ethics violations or a fine if JCOPE concludes he misused his office.