On Tuesday, Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump was deposed as part of the Washington, D.C. attorney general inauguration lawsuit against the Trump Organization.
The deposition comes after the January announcement that D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine was suing the Trump Organization and Presidential Inaugural Committee for misappropriating over $1 million that they raised by “grossly overpaying” for event space within the Trump Hotel for the 2017 inauguration. Rick Gates, the former inaugural committee deputy chairman, worked out a deal to pay $175,000 per day to the hotel for a four-day event space reservation.
Even members of the Trump committee tried to get Gates to call off the deal. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the committee’s event planner, told the committee and the Trump family that the rate was at least double the market rate. Wolkoff “noted unease with the offer during an in-person meeting with President-elect Trump and Ivanka Trump.” She continued advising against the transaction with emails to both Gates and Ivanka to “express [her] concern.” Despite her advisement, “the Inaugural Committee accepted the contract anyway,” according to the lawsuit.
Wolkoff will be deposed next week. The Chairman of the inaugural committee, Tom Barrack, was deposed on November 17th.
Donald Trump is just weeks away from making his White House exit. Before he goes, he is looking to pardon several of his allies and children, shielding them from legal action despite their transgressions.
There’s no word of yet on how or if the possible pardon will affect this lawsuit.
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