The District of Columbia is suing President Trump’s inaugural committee, the Trump Organization and the Trump International Hotel in Washington, accusing them of “grossly overpaying” for event space at the hotel to enrich the president’s family during the 2017 inauguration.
The funds to rent the hotel space came from the inaugural committee. As a nonprofit, the committee was not legally allowed to use “any portion of its funds to be spent in a way that are designed to benefit private persons or companies,” according to the lawsuit. The committee spent more than a million dollars to rent the hotel space, a cost that D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine says is far above market rate.
“We are seeking to recover the nonprofit funds that were improperly funneled directly to the Trump family business,” Racine said in a statement about the lawsuit filed Wednesday. He wants those funds, if they are recovered, to be funneled to a nonprofit promoting U.S. civic engagement.
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