Ivanka Trump Involved In Negotiations For Trump Washington Hotel Rentals During Scandal-Plagued Inauguration

Last week, it was revealed that President Donald Trump‘s inaugural committee misspent over $100 million in donations allegedly made by foreign donors, and now a new name has emerged in the scandal’s investigation: Ivanka Trump. 

According to ProPublica — which cited interviews and internal emails — the inauguration paid the Trump Organization “for rooms, meals and event space at the company’s Washington hotel.”

Ivanka, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, is also a senior executive at the Trump Organization who was involved in negotiating the rates Trump’s Washington hotel charged her father’s inaugural committee for renting venues.

Should the Trump hotel be charged more than the venues’ going rates, a tax law violation could arise. Given that the inaugural committee reportedly registered as a nonprofit, any potential acceptance of foreign contributions could also violate federal law. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking to determine if any of the alleged foreign donors come from Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

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ProPublica reported that Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Ivanka Trump’s ethics attorney stated: “When contacted by someone working on the inauguration, Ms. Trump passed the inquiry on to a hotel official and said only that any resulting discussions should be at a ‘fair market rate.’ Ms. Trump was not involved in any additional discussions.”

Mirijanian did not offer evidence to support his claim about the first daughter.

The $107 million raised for Trump’s January 2017 inauguration reportedly represents nearly twice the cost of Barack Obama‘s 2009 inauguration.

Among the big-name donors who contributed to Trump’s inauguration are billionaire Sheldon Adelson, AT&T and Boeing.

Emails reveal Ivanka connected Rick Gates — who leading up to Trump’s inauguration was the inaugural committee’s deputy chairman — with Mickael Damelincourt, the Trump Washington hotel’s managing director in order to solve a dispute over venue prices.

Another person involved in the inauguration planning was Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump. An FBI raid of Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen‘s home and office in April uncovered documents that included a recorded conversation between Wolkoff and Cohen in which the latter voiced concern over the inaugural committee’s spending practices.

This is the latest in many controversies over which Trump, his family and his businesses are being investigated. Ivanka herself is already facing scrutiny for her use of private email during her time thus far in the White House, an action that has drawn comparisons to Hillary Clinton‘s use of private email during her 2016 campaign.

Article by Pablo Mena

Writer for uPolitics.com. NY Giants and Rangers fan. Film and TV enthusiast (especially Harry Potter and The Office) and lover of foreign languages and cultures.