In this case, the group's complaint asked the IRS to consider levying new taxes on the group, which is an IRS-certified nonprofit organization. The IRS declined to comment Friday afternoon.

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The complaint centers on a fundraiser that Trump held for veterans' groups in Iowa in January, which brought in more than $4 millions from other donors. Trump directed more than $2 million of this money into his foundation, which he established in 1987.

After that, Trump would interrupt his campaign rallies in Iowa to give away checks from the foundation, calling up local veterans' groups to receive them onstage. Then — several months later, and under pressure to give the rest of the donated money away — Trump held a news conference at Trump Tower, where he announced the foundation's remaining gifts.

Federal law requires that nonprofit groups such as the Trump Foundation keep their distance from presidential politics. The IRS says nonprofit organizations "are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign."

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But this year, the line between Trump's charity and his campaign has been blurred. In Iowa, the oversize checks given to veterans' groups often had the nonprofit's name in one corner, and the campaign's slogan on the bottom. At Trump Tower, Trump announced the gifts at a news conference dedicated mainly to his campaign, standing at a podium with the same campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again."

"Mr. Trump, the Foundation president, deliberately thrust the Foundation into his campaign by making it a pivotal topic of discussion at numerous campaign-sponsored events and using his political limelight to focus attention on Foundation activities," Woodhouse wrote in a letter to the IRS. "The Foundation has inserted itself into an inherently political presidential campaign in direct violation of" the law, he wrote.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions from The Washington Post on Friday afternoon.