US government lawyers interview Ivanka Trump about alleged misuse of funds by the presidential committee

IVANKA TRUMP HAS been interviewed by government attorneys who allege that Donald Trump’s inauguration committee in 2017 misused donor funds, a new court document revealed.

The document, first reported by CNN on Wednesday, notes that the president’s daughter, a senior White House aide, was interviewed Tuesday by attorneys from the attorney general’s office.

The office has filed a lawsuit alleging waste of funds from the nonprofit organization, accusing the committee of making more than a million dollars (€ 825,000) in improper payments to the president’s hotel in Washington DC during inauguration week in 2017.

As part of the lawsuit, they have cited records from Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Thomas Barrack Jr, a close friend of the president who chaired the inaugural committee, and others. Barrack was also interviewed last month.

Trump’s inaugural committee spent more than a million dollars to reserve a ballroom at the Trump International Hotel in the nation’s capital as part of a plan to “overpay” for party space and enrich the crowd. The president’s own family in the process, the District of Columbia attorney said. general, Karl Racine alleges.

He has accused the committee of misusing non-profit funds and coordinating with the hotel management and members of the Trump family to organize the events.

“District law requires nonprofits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or businesses,” Racine said.

“In this case, we seek to recover the nonprofit funds that were improperly funneled directly to the Trump family business.”

The committee raised an unprecedented $ 107 million (€ 88 million) to host events celebrating Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, but its spending has attracted continued scrutiny.

Alan Garten of the Trump Organization said in a statement: “Ms. Trump’s only involvement was connecting the parties and instructing the hotel to charge a ‘fair market rate,’ which the hotel did.”