Trump’s inauguration is probed over whether it was front for cash-for-access and influence

Federal prosecutors in New York are examining whether President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the $107 million it raised, it was revealed on Thursday.

The investigation is also looking into whether some of the top donors to Trump’s crowning event gave money in exchange for access to his administration, policy concessions or to influence the administration, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Money in exchange for political favors could violate federal corruption laws. There could also be a violation of federal law if funds were diverted from the inaugural committee, which was registered as a nonprofit.

Prosecutors are examining whether donors gave money for Trump’s inaugural events in return for access to the administration

The investigation came partly out of materials seized in the federal probe of Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen’s business dealings, the paper reported. 

In April raids of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room, federal agents obtained a recorded conversation between Cohen and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump, who worked on the inaugural events.  

Wolkoff, in their conversation, expressed concern about how the inaugural committee was spending its money.

Wolkoff, a former Vogue staffer who is one of the first lady’s longtime friends, left the administration in February after reports her firm, WIS Media Partners, received $26 million in payments to help plan the inauguration. 

It’s unknown when the conversation between Wolkoff and Cohen took place or why it was recorded. 

Trump’s inaugural committee raised more than double what former President Barack Obama’s first inaugural committee did.

Supporters said the president’s inauguration was so costly because no one expected him to win so all the planning was done at the last minute. 

Trump’s funds came largely from wealthy donors and corporations who gave $1 million or more – including casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, AT&T Inc. andBoeing Co. , according to Federal Election Commission filings examined by the Journal. 

Prosecutors have asked Richard Gates, a former campaign aide who served as the inaugural committee’s deputy chairman, about the committee’s spending and its donors.

Supporters said the president’s inauguration was so costly because no one expected him to win so all the planning was done at the last minute

Gates has met with prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and the special counsel’s office.  

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has examined whether any foreign money came into the inaugural fund, which is prohibited from accepting foreign contributions. In August, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, on a referral fromMueller, obtained a guilty plea from a D.C. consultant who admitted he used a U.S. citizen to serve as a ‘straw purchaser’ so that a ‘prominent Ukraine oligarch’ could attend the inauguration. 

The names were never disclosed, the paper noted.

Since pleading guilty to eight counts in August, Cohen has been cooperating with prosecutors in New York and the special counsel’s office. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years in prison.