She said the case is “politically motivated”
Ivanka Trump was questioned, under oath, at the District of Columbia (DC) office of the Attorney General General over claims that not-for-profit funds were misused at Mr Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
The DC Attorney General Karl Racine alleges that Mr Trump’s real estate business and other entities misused the funds to enrich the Trumps.
Ivanka Trump, who has denounced the case as “politically motivated,” shared a screengrab purported to be of an email in which she suggested the hotel be paid a “fair market rate”.
“This ‘inquiry’ is another politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness and waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said.
There is no comment yet from the White House.
The Trump’s inaugural committee has however said its finances were audited and no money was unlawfully spent.
The 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee ( a tax-exempt, non- profit organization) was alleged to have worked with the Trump family to overpay for event space at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
In one case, the lawsuit alleges that more than $300,000 was spent for a private reception for Mr Trump’s three eldest children, Donald Jnr, Ivanka and Eric by the non-profit organization at the Trump International Hotel. The event took place on the evening of Mr Trump’s inauguration.
Mr Racine, earlier this year, said: “District law requires non-profits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies.”
The lawsuit is seeking to recover more than $1m in alleged improper payments made to the Trump International Hotel during the week of the inauguration.
Ivanka has however tweeted that she had spent more than five hours being interviewed at the office of Mr Racine, a Democrat who became DC attorney general in 2015.
She revealed that lawyers questioned her about the rates charged by the Trump International Hotel for events at the inauguration – and said she had shared the email in which she directs the hotel to charge a “fair market rate” with them.
Mr Trump’s inaugural committee raised $107m – the biggest ever, according to FEC filings.
Richard Gates – who was one of several Trump associates convicted in relation to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election – was the inaugural committee’s deputy chairman.
