Ivanka Trump involved in negotiations for Trump Hotel rentals during inauguration

12/15/18
President Donald Trump's inaugural committee spent funds on hotel rooms and meals at the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC and also rented space there at rates negotiated partly by Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, WNYC and ProPublica reported Friday. Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating the committee for possible financial abuses related to the more than $100 million in donations it raised, people familiar with the matter have told CNN. nauguration organizers held events at the Trump International, then newly opened in a federally owned property just blocks from the White House. The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia have subpoenaed the Trump organization and related entities for tax and business records relating to the hotel's business as part of a suit claiming that Trump, who has retained his interest in the Trump Organization, is in violation of a constitutional ban on the President receiving payments from foreign or domestic governments. The Washington Post has reported that a Saudi-backed veterans' group booked nearly 500 nights at the hotel in the months after Trump's inauguration.

Inaugural committee organizers complained to Ivanka Trump that the hotel was attempting to charge $175,000 per day for use of a ballroom and other meeting rooms, according to internal communications. Committee leader Stephanie Winston Wolkoff emailed Ivanka Trump, then still an executive with the Trump Organization, to argue that the maximum rate should have been $85,000 a day, noting that events were for Trump -- referred to as "PE," or President-elect. "These are events in PE's honor at his hotel and one of them is with and for family and close friends," Wolkoff wrote in an email published by WNYC. One person familiar with the matter told CNN that the investigation into the inaugural committee is in the early stages, with investigators generally focused on whether any inauguration money was misspent. The investigation was first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times also reported Thursday night that federal prosecutors are looking into whether people from foreign countries -- specifically Middle Eastern countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- funneled potentially illegal donations via surrogate donors to both the inaugural fund and a pro-Trump super PAC in efforts to buy "influence over American policy."

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Rogue Valley said:

Ivanka Trump involved in negotiations for Trump Hotel rentals during inauguration


Ivanka Trump.



Basically, the Trump Hotel would overcharge the Trump Inaugural Committee for rooms, meals, etc. and the overage would wind up in the bank account of the Trump Organization. It's a way of laundering money. Inaugural Committee funds, acquired from donors, were partially laundered by the Trump Hotel and subsequently significant over-payments were deposited with the Trump Organization rather than returned to the Committee. Ivanka served as a "middleman" between the hotel and the committee. There still seems to be ~$20+ million in missing Inaugural Committee funds that as of yet cannot be properly accounted for.

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Common Sense 1 said:

In a statement, Trump's inaugural committee said the celebration was "in full compliance with all applicable laws."

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In a report for ProPublica and WNYC by Ilya Marritz earlier this year, the chair of George W. Bush’s second inauguration, Greg Jenkins, said he was baffled. “They had a third of the staff and a quarter of the events and they raise at least twice as much as we did,” he said. “So there’s the obvious question: Where did it go? I don’t know.”

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