It hasn't even been 24 hours since we learned that federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Trump's inaugural committee and we now have reason to believe prosecutors in another jurisdiction may launch their own investigation.
Citing internal company emails and receipts, Pro Publica reports that Trump's inaugural committee spent money at Trump's properties and overcharged for service in a deal overseen by Trump's daughter Ivanka.
The inauguration paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals and event space at the company’s Washington hotel, according to interviews as well as internal emails and receipts reviewed by WNYC and ProPublica.
During the planning, Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s eldest daughter and a senior executive with the Trump Organization, was involved in negotiating the price the hotel charged the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee for venue rentals. A top inaugural planner emailed Ivanka and others at the company to “express my concern” that the hotel was overcharging for its event spaces, worrying of what would happen “when this is audited.”
If the Trump hotel charged more than the going rate for the venues, it could violate tax law. The inaugural committee’s payments to the Trump Organization and Ivanka Trump’s role have not been previously reported or disclosed in public filings.
Now that this is all out there, an audit could be the least of their worries.
New York's incoming Attorney General Letitia James recently vowed to investigate the Trump crime family through all means available to her office and this is exactly the kind of thing her office may be interested in, but federal prosecutors in Virginia may also be interested in this information.
The Trump Organization is based in New York, but Trump's inaugural committee was incorporated in Virginia placing it under the jurisdiction of the same federal prosecutors who are prosecuting the case against the NRA's Russian spy ring.
This information will also likely be of interest to the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia in their emoluments case.
Beyond this case, everything we know about numerous other cases tells us Trump's hotel in Washington D.C. is the epicenter of a massive corruption scandal. That is exactly why former ethics officials said Trump must divest from it, but he never did. The grift must go on.