Federal prosecutors subpoenaed financial documents from President Trump’s inaugural committee Monday as part of the investigation into the financing of the $107 million raised and spent on the Trump administration curtain raising festivities in January 2017. Trump’s inaugural committee, which is a non-profit, scooped up an eyebrow-raising two times the amount of the previous Obama inaugural. Federal investigators were tipped off to potential lawbreaking thanks to info uncovered in the April 2018 raid of then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s various properties.
Monday’s court order from Manhattan’s Southern District is seeking documents from the committee on its donors, which vendors were awarded contracts, and what benefits were given to attendees, including photo opportunities with the president. “Prosecutors also showed interest in whether any foreigners illegally donated to the committee, as well as whether committee staff knew that such donations were illegal, asking for documents laying out legal requirements for donations,” according to the New York Times. “The United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn is separately investigating whether foreigners illegally funneled donations to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee using so-called straw donors to disguise their donations… As part of their inquiry, prosecutors in Manhattan have pursued the possibility that the inaugural committee made false statements to the Federal Election Commission.”
No one in the Trump administration is currently under investigation for the inaugural committee’s operation, but the escalation of the inquiry shows that there may have been other avenues for Trump-themed graft that will prompt investigations beyond Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
