‘Major Grifting’: Ivanka Testified Falsely In Inauguration Probe

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Ivanka Trump in sworn testimony claimed she "really didn't have an involvement" in the planning of her father's January 2017 inauguration event, but according to Mother Jones she "testified inaccurately during her deposition" in a lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine.

Racine is accusing the Trump family of misusing charitable funds to enrich themselves (something of which the Trump family allegedly knows a thing or two.)

"As Racine put it," Mother Jones reports, "the lawsuit maintains 'that the Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit corporation, coordinated with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space in the Trump International Hotel… The Committee also improperly used non-profit funds to throw a private party [at the Trump Hotel] for the Trump family costing several hundred thousand dollars.' In short, the attorney general accused the Trump gang of major grifting, and he is seeking to recover the money paid to the Trump Hotel so those funds can be used for real charitable purposes."

Ivanka Trump "was part of the decision-making for various aspects of the inauguration, including even the menus for events," despite her sworn testimony that she "really didn't have an involvement" in the planning aside from giving "feedback" if her "opinion was solicited." The report cites "documents filed in that case and material obtained by Mother Jones."

Emails between several individuals suggest Ivanka Trump distanced herself from the events after they were unable to attract "A-listers."

Other parts of the deposition show Ivanka Trump "downplayed her relationship with" Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, apparently a friend of both Ivanka and Melania Trump who later would write a scathing exposé that included then-First Lady Melania Trump's now infamous profanity-laden tirade about kids, cages, and Christmas.

Ivanka Trump "described Winston Wolkoff as 'a person I knew in New York who does events,' adding, 'I didn't know Stephanie Winston that well. I just knew she was very good at planning. I just knew her in that capacity.'"

Emails appear to show that too was false.

Read the entire report here.