Federal prosecutors probing Trump
inauguration spending: WSJ
Send a link to a friend
[December 14, 2018]
(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are
investigating whether U.S. President Donald Trump's inaugural committee
misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donors, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people it said were familiar
with the matter.
The early-stage investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office is
examining whether some of the committee's donors gave money in exchange
for policy concessions, influencing administration positions or access
to the incoming administration, the Journal said, citing people familiar
with the matter.
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office declined to
comment.
Asked about the report, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Reuters the
president was not involved in his inaugural committee. "The last thing a
president-elect has time for is inaugural fund-raising," he said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders also said the inauguration had
nothing to do with Trump or his wife, Melania.
"The biggest thing the president did in his engagement in the
inauguration was to come here and raise his hand and take the oath of
office," Sanders told reporters.
The probe into the inaugural committee comes as Trump and his White
House are already facing investigations into the Trump campaign's
contacts with Russia, hush-money payments to women claiming to have had
affairs with Trump and spending by Trump's foundation, among other
issues.
According to the Journal, the investigation into the inaugural committee
partly stemmed from materials seized in a probe into the dealings of
former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen was sentenced on Wednesday to
three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating the hush
payments in violation of campaign laws.
Although campaign finance laws restrict the size of campaign
contributions, inaugurations can accept unlimited donations, including
from corporations. The amount raised by Trump's inaugural committee,
chaired by real estate developer and investor Thomas Barrack, was the
largest in history, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
[to top of second column]
|
A band plays at the "Liberty" inaugural ball for U.S. President
Donald Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, in Washington,
January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Journal said there was no sign the probe was targeting Barrack.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The event-planning business of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former
unpaid advisor to Melania Trump, was the highest-paid vendor to the
committee at $25.8 million, the Journal reported. A recorded
conversation between Wolkoff and Cohen in which she expressed
concern about the committee's spending was seized from Cohen, the
Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors have questioned former campaign aide Richard Gates, who
served as deputy chairman of inaugural committee, the Journal
reported. Gates pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy charges
relating to his foreign consulting work with former Trump campaign
chairman Paul Manafort.
Tom Green, a lawyer for Gates, did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
The Journal said prosecutors are also seeking documents from
Franklin Haney, a Tennessee developer who gave $1 million to the
inaugural committee and later hired Cohen to help him obtain a $5
billion U.S Department of Energy loan. A loan application by Haney's
company is still pending with the department, the Journal reported.
Larry Blust, a lawyer for Haney, declined to comment.
Other major inauguration donors included casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson, who gave $5 million, and investment firm founder Charles
Schwab and mining investor Christopher Cline, who gave $1 million
each, according to FEC filings. There is no indication any of the
three are part of the investigation.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson, Ginger Gibson, Karen Freifeld, Jeff
Mason and Makini Brice; editing by Anthony Lin and Eric Beech)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |