Ivanka Trump has responded to news that she had been deposed Tuesday in connection to a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump's inauguration committee of misusing its funds.- The suit, filed by the Washington, DC, attorney general in January, said Ivanka Trump knew the committee had paid more than twice the market rate to book event space at a Trump-owned hotel.
- Typically, part of the president's inauguration-committee funds comes from private donations, while the rest is paid by the taxpayer.
- On Thursday, Ivanka Trump tweeted that the lawsuit was "another politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness & waste of taxpayer dollars."
President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump has responded to reports of her being deposed for a lawsuit on inaugural misspending, calling the inquiry "politically motivated" and a "waste of taxpayer dollars."
According to a court filing, the first daughter was deposed Tuesday for a lawsuit filed by the Washington, DC, attorney general against the Presidential Inaugural Committee and the Trump Organization in January.
The lawsuit alleges that the president's inaugural committee abused nonprofit funds "to enrich the Trump family" by overpaying to use the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, for events during the 2017 inauguration.
According to the lawsuit, one of the event's planners, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, informed both Ivanka Trump and Rick Gates, the deputy chairman of the committee, that the Trump hotel was quoting at least double the market rate for inauguration events but that the committee finalized the deal anyway.
Presidential inaugurations are usually paid for with a combination of funds from taxpayers and private fundraising, according to a 2016 report from The Washington Post.
While the Trump inaugural committee raised $107 million - more than twice that raised for President Barack Obama's second inauguration - taxpayers are always responsible for certain inauguration bills, according to the Associated Press. These expenditures include security costs and the $5 million to build the swearing-in platform.
In a tweet Thursday, Ivanka Trump denied that her family's hotel overcharged for event space and said the investigation was being carried out by a vindictive Democrat.
"This week I spent 5+ hours in a deposition with the Democrat D.C. AG's office where they questioned the rates charged by the Trump Hotel at the inauguration. I shared with them an email from 4 years ago where I sent instructions to the hotel to charge 'a fair market rate' (see below) which the hotel then did," she wrote, sharing a copy of said email.
"This 'inquiry' is another politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness & waste of taxpayer dollars."
Investigators plan to interview Wolkoff on December 9, according to a Tuesday court filing.
Ivanka Trump's deposition Tuesday is perhaps a preview of her post-White House life.
The president and his administration await the prospect of multiple lawsuits upon leaving office, and The New York Times reported Tuesday that the president was exploring the option of giving out preemptive pardons to his three eldest children; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that allegation on Wednesday.
- Read more:
- Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are expanding their New Jersey estate after hostile signals from New York high society about their post-presidency life
- Ivanka Trump called the New York investigations into the Trump Organization's finances 'harassment' and motivated by 'rage'
- Trump's top aides are 'avoiding' his legal team to distance themselves from his attempt to subvert the election results, report says
- New York officials are now said to be investigating some of Trump's tax write-offs, including consulting fees that appeared to go to his daughter Ivanka