Report: Federal Prosecutors Investigating Trump Inauguration Spending

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee amid suspicion that a portion of the $107 million it raised was misspent, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal states the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is in the beginning stages of probing whether the committee’s most prominent donors made sizable contributions “in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions or to influence official administration positions.”

The Journal reports:

The investigation partly arises out of materials seized in the federal probe of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s business dealings, according to people familiar with the matter.

In April raids of Mr. Cohen’s home, office and hotel room, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents obtained a recorded conversation between Mr. Cohen and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump, who worked on the inaugural events. In the recording, Ms. Wolkoff expressed concern about how the inaugural committee was spending money, according to a person familiar with the Cohen investigation.

Federal prosecutors have asked Richard Gates, a former campaign aide who served as the inaugural committee’s deputy chairman, about the fund’s spending and its donors, according to people familiar with the matter.

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