Former Trump party planner testified on Ivanka's 'improper' involvement in inauguration planning

Shortly before and after Donald Trump's failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results, both Ivanka and Donald Jr. were called to give depositions by the D.C. Attorney General's office and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. Since January 2020, AG Racine has been investigating the use of Trump's Inauguration monies toward Trump Organization interests.

In February of 2021, Don Jr.'s deposition reportedly "raised further questions" in prosecutors' minds as to the legality of the monetary dealings going on in Trumpland.

According to Racine, the dirty dealings are simple: the Trump family used nonprofit, charitable funds from the Inaugural Committee to pay the for-profit Trump Organization in an illegal fashion. That includes jacking up Trump hotel room costs to reportedly using "several hundred thousand dollars" in Inaugural Committee funds to throw private parties for themselves and those around the MAGA orbit. Now, the D.C. Attorneys General office is focusing in on Junior and his dad's circle of Trump Organization operatives.

Ample evidence has filtered out over the past year in the form of emails and receipts. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, former Trump family friend who helped with organizing inaugural events has since provided much of the evidence seen by reporters. Winston Wolkoff told The Daily Beast, "The world's about to learn how Trump's inner circle—with Trump's full knowledge—took advantage of the presidential inauguration." Winston Wolkoff's emails show that she raised concerns about possible price-gouging on the part of the Trump Organization in regards to services being paid for by the Inaugural Committee. She tweeted out Monday morning:

I testified that I found Ivanka's involvement in the PIC "improper" and "out of the ordinary." These are the facts and people must know the truth. She is Dishonest, Deceitful, and Duplicitous. That is a fact.

Ivanka Trump, best known for pretending to create policy for her dad as a top adviser, gave a deposition that reportedly made it sound like she has never met anyone in the Trump Organization and doesn't even understand how companies and stuff work. This bit of ignorance was also mirrored by her older brother Don Jr. who reportedly couldn't remember whether or not he did anything regarding anything in the history of anything, during his deposition.

Here's Junior praising Winston Wolkoff at an inauguration party he told prosecutors he couldn't recall attending.

Pay no attention to the swamp! Instead, remember that Jewish liberals are trying to turn Dr. Seuss into a Muslim by canceling Christmas. David Corn of Mother Jones reports Ivanka Trump may have "testified inaccurately during her deposition."

During a December 1 deposition—in which she swore to tell the truth—Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Donald Trump who was an executive at the Trump Organization before becoming a White House adviser to her father, was asked if she had any "involvement in the process of planning the inauguration." She replied, "I really didn't have an involvement." Ivanka testified that if her "opinion was solicited" regarding an inauguration event, she "would give feedback to my father or to anyone who asked my perspective or opinion." And that was as far as her participation went.

Emails and other documents show that Ivanka was involved with all kinds of Inaugural Committee decisions, including the menus for inaugural events. Peculiar that it slipped her mind, right? In fact, even Ivanka's downplaying of her personal relationship with Winston Wolkoff during her deposition—in which Ivanka described her relationship with Winston Wolkoff as that of a service industry acquaintance—is belied by emails and text messages obtained by Mother Jones between the two women. They include plans for dinners and "catching up," as well as talk about their children and families. None of that is criminal, but lying during your deposition can be a little bit illegal, and definitely peculiar.

Speaking of peculiar: Back in New York, one of the big players in the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, played what the Daily Beast has called a "peculiar role in reviewing financial transactions of what's supposed to be the independent inaugural committee—something far outside his duties at the family company." Weisselberg has been the Trump family CFO and bookkeeper since the 1970s. He has been deposed by prosecutors in New York, as they look into his taxes as well as other very Trumpian things, and has been implicated in crimes that sent other Trump confidants to prison.

According to the Daily Beast, Weisselberg isn't the only person D.C. investigators are trying to question; Texas financier and Don Jr.'s college chum Gentry Beach (real name) served on the finance committee for the inauguration. Beach is reportedly the fellow that coordinated the almost $50,000 in hotel room business expenses, charged to the for-profit Trump Organization that was somehow paid for by the nonprofit Inaugural Committee. Investigators are also trying to interview Kara Hanley as "a former executive assistant" to the Trump family business who made it onto the "friend and families" lists for these sketchy inaugural events.

Unfortunately, Weisselberg, Beach, and Hanley all live more than 25 miles away from D.C., and technically cannot be compelled to appear at a future trial. As a result, D.C. Attorney General Racine is hoping to compel their testimony to be preserved in the form of a deposition. His case, unlike the one in New York, is not a criminal case, but a civil case. Racine said he hopes to, if proven, get charitable money returned from the people in the Trump Organization who stole it, to charitable organizations.

A hearing on getting these three depositions was set for Monday, but was canceled Sunday, by Judge José M. López. A new date for the D.C. Attorney General Office to argue its case for these deposition.