Last night, NY1 reported that an ethics panel advised Mayor Bill de Blasio not to solicit donations to his political nonprofit group from anyone with matters pending before the city.

Tuesday, he forcefully pushed back on any suggestion that his team violated that directive, despite appearances to the contrary. NY1's Bobby Cuza has the story.

There's no disputing that the Campaign for One New York, the political non-profit created by Mayor de Blasio to promote his agenda, accepted large donations from those with business before the city.

But the mayor says his team followed guidance from the city's Conflicts of Interest Board, which as NY1 reported this week, issued a letter Jan. 2014 that barred soliciting donations from anyone "with a matter pending or about to be pending" before the city.

"The Conflicts of Interest Board laid out a set of rules, and we followed those rules," de Blasio said. "It's as simple as that. And we can show you case by case."

What the mayor might show, however, is unclear.

Pressed on specifics by reporters Tuesday after an unrelated news conference on crime statistics, the mayor spoke only in generalities, saying he relied on lawyers to interpret what they could and couldn't do.

"Literally what the lawyer says is applied case by case very consistently," the mayor said. "Each individual case is looked at. Each individual name is looked at."

The mayor did note that the Campaign For One New York periodically disclosed its donors, despite not being required to by law, which he says shows just how comfortable his team was that it was acting appropriately.

"Some of the questions that you or anyone else might ask are based on disclosure, right?" de Blasio said. "You're literally looking at individual names because we told you, so you could ask the question."

Meanwhile, in defending his fundraising on behalf of State Senate Democrats in 2014 — another subject of investigation — de Blasio managed to get in a veiled dig at Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who's been accused of not doing enough to help his fellow Democrats win control of that chamber.

"Here in this state, there's been, I think, a very troubling history of a willingness of leaders in one party to help the other party stay in power," de Blasio said.

The mayor was asked if he was specifically referring to Cuomo.

"I'm referring to more than one person, but I think you can put together all the pieces," de Blasio said.