The 2016 Blast The latest POLITICO scoops and coverage of the 2016 elections. Email Sign Up

Tweets from https://twitter.com/politico/lists/team-politico



Bernie Sanders takes notes during a round table discussion with community leaders on April 18, 2016, in the Bronx borough of New York. | AP Photo Sanders campaign slams Clinton-DNC fundraising agreement

Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign on Monday accused Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign of possibly violating campaign finance laws through its joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee.

Brad Deutsch, the lawyer for the Sanders campaign, wrote an open letter to DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz arguing that the Clinton campaign's Hillary Victory Fund, the joint account between the campaign and various Democratic Party committees, "skirts legal limits on federal campaign donations." The fund is made up of the Clinton campaign, 32 state Democratic committees, and the DNC.

"The Hillary Victory Fund has reported receiving several individual contributions in amounts as high as $354,400 or more, which is over 130 times the $2,700 limit that applies for contributions to Secretary Clinton's campaign," the letter reads. "Bernie 2016 is particularly concerned that these extremely large-dollar individual contributions have been used by the Hillary Victory Fund to pay for more than $7.8 million in direct mail efforts and over $8.6 million in online advertising, both of which appear to benefit only HFA by generating low-dollar contributions that flow only to HFA, rather than to the DNC or any of the participating state party committees."

The challenge by the Sanders campaign follows Clinton's attacks on the Vermont senator that he hasn't been a team player for the Democratic Party. The letter comes a few days after a recent Federal Elections Commission report showed that Clinton raised $33 million through the account, some of which came from donations larger than $350,000 from big Democratic donors.

Sanders' campaign has also signed a joint account but has not been as aggressive as the Clinton campaign in raising money through that fund.

"Bernie 2016 is concerned that, at best, the joint fundraising committee's spending on direct mail and online advertising appears to represent an impermissible in-kind contribution from the DNC and the participating state party committees to HFA," the letter continues. "At worst, using funds received from large-dollar donors who have already contributed the $2,700 maximum to HFA may represent an excessive contribution to HFA from these individuals."

Not long after releasing the letter, the Sanders campaign sent out a fundraising email to supporters with the subject line, “This should anger EVERYONE.”

“The Clinton campaign is bending campaign finance rules to their breaking point all so Wall Street fat cats and people like Alice Walton can contribute 130 times the legal limit to support her campaign. All to defeat us in the primary,” the email to supporters, signed by campaign manager Jeff Weaver, said. "So, this is distressing, but it’s probably to be expected. The Clinton campaign has raised the majority of its money from people giving the maximum amount of money under the law and her super PACs have raised more than $15 million from Wall Street alone."

In a statement Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called the charges "baseless."

"It is shameful that Senator Sanders has resorted to irresponsible and misleading attacks just to raise money for himself," Mook said. "Instead of trying to convince the next generation of progressives that the Democratic Party is corrupt, Senator Sanders should stick to the issues and think about what he can do to help the Party he is seeking to lead."