President Trump's eldest daughter and White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump sat in a closed-door deposition on Tuesday with investigators from Washington, DC, attorney general's office. The deposition was a part of the ongoing lawsuit that alleges the misuse of inaugural funds by the Trump Organisation and Presidential Inaugural Committee during the inauguration of Trump’s Washington hotel in 2017, reported CNN.
The office had filed a lawsuit in January alleging the abuse of more than $1 million by "grossly overpaying" for use of event space at the Trump hotel in Washington for the 2017 inauguration and enriching Trump’s own family. The probe which is being led by the D.C Attorney General is investigating whether President Donald Trump has violated the emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from profiting from foreign governments. Since the district law requires non-profits to be used for public purposes the probe is investigating whether Trump directed the funds towards his family business.
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Deposition of witnesses regarding the lawsuit have been underway during the last several weeks. Ivanka Trump was among the list with others who have sat for a deposition with the attorney general, including Trump's friend and chairman of the inaugural committee, Tom Barrack. The deposition of Ivanka Trump was posted on Wednesday, however, it was disclosed in a filing by the D.C. attorney general, Karl Racine, reported ABC news.
According to a court filing, the attorney general's office has subpoenaed records from Barrack, Ivanka Trump along with first lady Melania Trump, and Rick Gates, the former inaugural committee deputy chairman. The filing also said that Barrack was deposed on November 17.
Alan Garten, the attorney for the Trump Organization told CNN that, “Ms. Trump's only involvement was connecting the parties and instructing the hotel to charge a 'fair market rate', which the hotel did."
In 2016, Gates wrote to Ivanka Trump that he was worried about paying a huge fee to the hotel and that it could cause the media to make a huge story, as per the lawsuit. The lawsuit filed further stated that Rickey Gates, agreed with the hotel's managing director and Trump family members to pay $175,000 per day for the committee to reserve space for four days. However, the committee’s event planner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, was against the transaction and informed Trump’s family and the committee that the hotel was charging at least twice the market rate.
"The Inaugural Committee accepted the contract anyway," the lawsuit alleges.
Presidential Pardon
United States' President Donald Trump is in talks with his advisors about granting pre-emptive pardon to his daughter Ivanka Trump, sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani as he feels that the new government might target them. Read more here.
A presidential pardon is a power in the hands of the US President which they can use to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction.
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Arunima Sharma is an intern with SheThePeople.TV
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