Federal prosecutors in New York have subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s inauguration committee for documents related to donations the organization received, ABC News reports.
The subpoenas, which show that Trump’s legal entanglements stretch much farther than just special counsel Bob Mueller’s probe, were issued by the Southern District of New York’s public corruption office.
According to the Washington Post, the subpoena for Trump's inaugural committee indicates that prosecutors are looking at possible crimes related to conspiracy to defraud the United States, mail fraud, false statements, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutors are requesting documents related to the committee’s donors and attendees, as well as events around the inauguration and whether top-level donors got special access to Trump.
"We have just received a subpoena for documents. While we are still reviewing the subpoena, it is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry," a spokesperson for the inauguration told ABC News.
Trump’s inaugural fund raised $107 million, the most in history.
The subpoena also requests documents from vendors and contractors who worked for the committee, particularly the payment-processing company Stripe, which is backed by a company run by Jared Kushner’s brother Josh Kushner.
Mueller also interested in inauguration money:
It’s not just prosecutors in New York that are looking at where the inauguration money came from.
“Last year, special counsel Robert Mueller's team questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations from donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar,” ABC News reported. “One Mueller target, a political consultant named Sam Patten, acknowledged as part of a plea deal that he accepted $50,000 to buy tickets on behalf of a Ukrainian businessman who wanted to attend inaugural events.”
Trump spent money on self, friends:
“Despite the amount of money raised, the festivities surrounding Trump's swearing-in were far more modest in scale than past inaugural events. The non-profit group established to oversee the celebration hosted only three major events, with some small intimate private affairs. The record-breaking fundraising doubled that of President Barack Obama's first inaugural,” ABC News reported.
Instead, much of the money went to Trump’s own properties and his associates.
“The committee spent more than $1.5 million at the Trump International Hotel in Washington ahead of the president's 2017 swearing-in,” ABC News reported. “Questions about inaugural spending first were raised last year when tax filings disclosed that among payments to the five largest vendors was one of nearly $26 million to an event-planning firm run by a one-time adviser and close friend of Melania Trump.”
Former Trump ally Chris Christie told ABC that the Southern District investigation could be even more dangerous to Trump than the Mueller probe.
"This is why I've been saying for months that the Southern District of New York investigation presents a much more serious threat to the administration, potentially, than what Bob Mueller is doing," he said.
