NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating the finances of President Trump’s inaugural committee and whether foreigners contributed to its events using straw donors.
President Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that prosecutors in New York are investigating whether some of the committee’s donors made contributions in exchange for political favors and access to the Trump administration – a potential violation of federal corruption laws. The inquiry, which the newspaper said is in its early stages, is also focused on whether the inauguration committee misspent some of the $107 million it raised to stage events celebrating Trump’s inauguration.
The New York Times reported that prosecutors are examining whether people from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries made illegal payments to the committee and a pro-Trump super political action committee in a bid to influence American policy. Foreign contributions to inaugural funds and PACs are prohibited under federal law.
Both newspapers cited anonymous sources familiar with the inquiry.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
The inaugural committee said it has not been contacted by federal prosecutors and is not aware of any investigations.
The committee “staged a celebration of our democratic processes and did so in full compliance with all applicable laws and disclosure obligations,” it said Friday in a statement to the Associated Press. “The inauguration’s accounting was provided both to the Federal Election Commission and the IRS in compliance with all laws and regulations,” it said.
ProPublica and the New York public radio station WNYC also reported new details Friday on how Trump profited from the inauguration, with the committee paying for rooms and event space at his Washington D.C. Hotel.
The news organizations obtained emails showing that Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter, was involved in negotiating the hotel’s prices. In one email, a top inauguration planner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, emailed Ivanka Trump and inaugural committee deputy chairman Rick Gates expressing “concern” that the hotel was overcharging them and worry about public reaction “when this is audited.” She asked that the price of renting a ballroom and meeting rooms for four days be lowered from $175,000 per day to $85,000 per day.
Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Ivanka Trump’s ethics lawyers, said the first daughter’s role was minimal.
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