Trump's inaugural committee paid $26 million to firm of first lady's adviser

The nonprofit group that oversaw Trump’s inauguration and surrounding events in January 2017, the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, had been under pressure from liberal government watchdog groups to reveal how it spent the record $107 million it had raised from wealthy donors and corporations.

Its chairman, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a longtime friend of Donald Trump’s, had pledged that the committee would be thrifty with its spending, and would donate leftover funds to charity. In a statement released by the committee, he praised it for carrying out the inauguration and more than 20 related events with “elegance and seamless excellence without incident or interruption, befitting the legacy and tradition that has preceded us.”

But the mandatory tax return it filed with the Internal Revenue Service revealed heavy spending on administrative and logistical expenses associated with planning and executing several days’ worth of events for donors and supporters around Trump’s inaugural ceremonies.

By contrast, the return showed that the group’s charitable donations included only a previously publicized $3 million for hurricane relief, as well as a total of $1.75 million to groups involved in decorating and maintaining the White House and the vice president’s residence, and $250,000 for the Smithsonian Institution.

The 116-page filing indicates that the majority of the funds — more than $57 million — went to four event-planning companies.

The company that received the biggest payment — $26 million — was WIS Media Partners of Marina del Rey, California. Records show that the firm was created in December 2016, about six weeks before the inauguration, and its founder, according to a person familiar with the firm, was Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a longtime friend of Melania Trump’s. Otherwise there is very little information available about the company.

Two people with direct knowledge of Winston Wolkoff’s role, who asked to remain anonymous, said she often invoked Melania Trump’s name with transition officials as she delivered instructions for the inauguration. But Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Trump, said the first lady “had no involvement” with the inaugural committee "and had no knowledge of how funds were spent.”

The New York Times

Trump's inaugural committee paid $26 million to firm of first lady's adviser

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