- Oct 17, 2011
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Donald Trump’s inaugural committee spent more than $1 million to book a ballroom at the Trump International Hotel in the nation’s capital as part of a scheme to “grossly overpay” for party space and enrich the president’s own family in the process, according to a lawsuit.
The District of Columbia’s attorney general, Karl Racine, said the committee misused nonprofit funds and coordinated with the hotel’s management and members of the Trump family to arrange the events. He said one of the event’s planners raised concerns about pricing with Trump, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and Rick Gates, a top campaign official at the time.
Prosecutors found that Gates, a former Trump campaign aide who flipped on the president during the special counsel’s Russia investigation, personally managed discussions with the hotel about using the space, including ballrooms and meeting rooms. In one instance, Gates contacted Ivanka Trump and told her that he was “a bit worried about the optics” of the committee paying such a high fee, Racine said.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to first lady Melania Trump who played a leading role organizing the inaugural parties, had also told Trump, when he was president-elect, and Ivanka Trump that she was uneasy with the offer, Racine said. Winston Wolkoff later followed up with an email to Gates and Ivanka Trump warning that the hotel’s proposal was at least twice the market rate, Racine said.
But Gates went through with it anyway, at a cost of $1.03 million, the suit says.
See also this thread for earlier context.
The District of Columbia’s attorney general, Karl Racine, said the committee misused nonprofit funds and coordinated with the hotel’s management and members of the Trump family to arrange the events. He said one of the event’s planners raised concerns about pricing with Trump, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and Rick Gates, a top campaign official at the time.
Prosecutors found that Gates, a former Trump campaign aide who flipped on the president during the special counsel’s Russia investigation, personally managed discussions with the hotel about using the space, including ballrooms and meeting rooms. In one instance, Gates contacted Ivanka Trump and told her that he was “a bit worried about the optics” of the committee paying such a high fee, Racine said.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to first lady Melania Trump who played a leading role organizing the inaugural parties, had also told Trump, when he was president-elect, and Ivanka Trump that she was uneasy with the offer, Racine said. Winston Wolkoff later followed up with an email to Gates and Ivanka Trump warning that the hotel’s proposal was at least twice the market rate, Racine said.
But Gates went through with it anyway, at a cost of $1.03 million, the suit says.
See also this thread for earlier context.
