New questions about Trump inauguration money raised in book 'Melania and Me'

[ZiprHead]

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff also details the frosty relationship between Ivanka and Melania Trump in her new book "Melania and Me."

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff suggests chaos in the inaugural committee might have allowed millions to go unaccounted for.

The woman who organized Trump’s inauguration still has questions about where millions of dollars raised for the celebration went, and makes new allegations about how the Trump family tried to use the money to line its own pockets in her book “Melania and Me,” out Tuesday.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former close friend and confidant of the first lady, describes the chaotic weeks leading up to the January 2017 inauguration, including an anecdote in which she was told donations to the Presidential Inaugural Committee might have exceeded the $107 million reported on federal tax forms by several million dollars.

“Honestly, the presidential inaugural committee is a s___ show,” Winston Wolkoff says she told president-elect Trump and Melania at Trump Tower in New York as the inauguration neared. “They are disorganized, incompetent, and can’t produce the material we need.”

Emails from Winston Wolkoff and deputy Trump campaign chair Rick Gates warned the inaugural committee that it was being overcharged by the Trumps’ D.C. hotel, according to the book.

The meticulous records that Winston Wolkoff kept would later prove helpful to Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine.

She provided tens of thousands of electronic documents to Racine, who used them to file suit against the inaugural committee, Trump Hotels and the Trump Organization, alleging misuse of non-profit funds to enrich the president’s family business.

The committee spent over $1 million at the Trumps' D.C. hotel over the course of a few days, including hundreds of thousands of dollars for a private party for the Trumps' three older children, according to the lawsuit.

In her book, Winston Wolkoff also describes the tension between Melania and Ivanka Trump — a tension many observers claimed to see on display during a shared moment onstage during last week’s Republican National Convention.

During the inauguration planning Melania Trump referred to Ivanka as “Princess,” says Winston Wolkoff, who also says she and Melania made certain that the inaugural stage would be configured so Ivanka would not be right next to Donald Trump as he was sworn in as president.

“A Trump is a Trump is a Trump,” she wrote. “All along I thought [Melania Trump] was one of us. But at her core, she’s one of them.”

 

[southernhybrid]

I read about that book last weekend, but what came to mind was Trump's claim that he could walk down 5th Ave.and shoot someone and his base wouldn't care. That's the the thing. The entire Republican Party doesn't care what criminal things Trump does. He's their cult leader and where he takes them, they will follow.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I read about that book last weekend, but what came to mind was Trump's claim that he could walk down 5th Ave.and shoot someone and his base wouldn't care. That's the the thing. The entire Republican Party doesn't care what criminal things Trump does. He's their cult leader and where he takes them, they will follow.

My bold: This is what angers and frightens me the most. Fuck Trump, his entire unhinged, sectionable family and anyone who would profit from them. May they all rot in hell. But the GOP has shown they would sooner watch our Republic go up in flames rather than loose their position of power.

 

[laughing dog]

What is really sad is that any allegation of criminal activity against Trump is believable at face value and that the GOP will remain silent on it or defend it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It is incredible how flagrant it has been. After all of the crap on the damn email server... for Trump to just do as he pleases has been quite the bit frustrating.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Sorry if I'm a broken record on this topic -- and I am -- but just imagine the self-righteous, condemning speeches the GOP biggies would have made in the past 4 years if Trump was a Dem. We'd be hearing a non-stop jeremiad on the assault on democracy. All your local Repubs would be telling you that we HAD to vote him out in 9 weeks if we still wanted a chance to restore democracy. And they'd largely be correct. (And, considering how much their brand is flavored by Pence-style prudery, just imagine how they'd be describing a Dem Pres with Trump's ugly, R-rated mouth. Strictly insane levels of hypocrisy. Shame on elephants!)

 

[Patooka]

Nobody likes their replacement.

Is anyone surprised Melanie hates Ivanka?

 

[Elixir]

Nobody likes their replacement.

Is anyone surprised Melanie hates Ivanka?

Surprised? I am surprised that Ms Wolcoff showed up on Rachel Maddow's show last night and dropped the bomb that she has tapes of all those conversations with Melania quoted in the book, and intimated that she might make them public.
Just a little something for the Trump Crime Family to chew on while they look for ways to discredit her.