Pro-Trump super-PAC shutters

An allied group supporting Donald Trump’s presidential bid is shutting down amid added scrutiny of its relationship with the GOP front-runner’s campaign, according to multiple reports.

“Mr. Trump has said he doesn’t have a super PAC,” the person running the group, Mike Ciletti, told Politico, which first reported that the Make America Great Again super-PAC was shuttering.

{mosads}“So to honor his wishes, I’m shutting my organization down,” Ciletti told the newspaper. 

The Colorado-based operative told The Washington Post that his relationship with Trump’s staff is “an issue,” saying he wanted to “eliminate the questions” by closing down the operation. 

Recent Federal Election Commission filings showed that Trump’s campaign had directed thousands of dollars toward a pair of Colorado-based companies affiliated with Ciletti, The Post reported earlier this week. 

The operative, a longtime associate of Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, used contact information he suggested came from Trump’s personal assistant to solicit a GOP donor, and Trump appeared at a pair of events for the PAC over the summer, according to The Post.

Trump has insisted throughout his White House bid that he is independent from wealthy donors in an attempt to distinguish himself from candidates with big fundraising efforts like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.