Corruption investigators probing Trump’s inaugural committee – Washington Examiner

President Trump’s inaugural committee is under investigation for potentially misspending some of the $107 million it received to organize a string of events celebrating the start of the president’s term, according to a report.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also probing whether some of the committee’s biggest contributors donated money in order to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration in violation of anti-corruption laws, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The criminal inquiry reportedly emanates from an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York into the business dealings of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer.

Cohen was this week sentenced to three years in prison for breaking campaign finance, tax, and bank laws. He had also pleaded guilty to one count of lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation.

During April raids on Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room, investigators obtained a recording of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former unpaid adviser to first lady Melania Trump, raising concerns about the inaugural committee’s spending, according to the Journal.

While the newspaper did not determine which expenses had drawn the attention of law enforcement, it reported that Rick Gates, the committee’s deputy chairman, had spoken with prosecutors about the organization’s finances.

Gates pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of making a false statement stemming from Mueller’s Russia probe. He is yet to be sentenced.

Investigators have requested documents from Tennessee developer Franklin Haney, a client of Cohen’s who gave $1 million to the committee, the Journal said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., additionally secured a guilty plea from Sam Patten, a consultant who arranged for “a prominent Ukrainian oligarch” to attend President Trump’s inauguration through a “straw” donor.

Trump’s inaugural committee was responsible for, among other tasks, planning a concert on the National Mall, receptions, and inaugural balls.

“The [President’s Inaugural Committee] is not aware of any pending investigations and has not been contacted by any prosecutors. We simply have no evidence the investigation exists,” the organization told CNN via a statement. “The names of donors were provided to the [Federal Election Commission] and have been public for nearly two years and those donors were vetted in accordance with the law and no improprieties have been found regarding the vetting of those donors.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Thursday Trump was focused on becoming president at the time of interest to the inquiry and that others handled the committee.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with the president or the first lady,” Sanders said.