NYT: Trump Inaugural Committee Paid Melania Advisor $1.6 Million

[Zippyjuan]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/melania-trump-advisor-inaugural-fund


After months of avoiding questions about how it was going to spend the leftovers of its record-breaking haul, President Trump’s inaugural committee filed tax documents which revealed, among other things, that it had paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm connected to a Melania Trump advisor, according to a New York Times report.

The advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, personally netted $1.62 million, an unnamed inaugural committee source told the Times.

The committee, which was led by longtime Trump friend Thomas Barrack, raised $107 million, about double what President Obama’s inaugural committee raised for his 2009 inauguration. The Trump committee had promised that the money not spent on festivities related to the 2017 inauguration would go to charities, but ultimately, less than $5 million was donated to charitable causes, according to the tax documents.

Three million dollars went to donations the Trump administration has already touted to organizations that assisted with hurricane relief last year. The other $1.75 million in charitable giving when to groups involved in the maintenance of the White House and the Naval Observatory home where the Vice President lives..

In addition to the $25.8 million that went to Wolkoff’s firm WIS Media Partners, another event planning firm that has also worked on events for Democratic politicians received $25 million, according to the New York Times.

Wolkoff’s firm was created in December 2016, according to documents surfaced by the New York Times. Wolkoff is currently a special advisor to the President’s wife. The first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham told the Times Wolkoff is not paid in the role. Grisham also denied that Melania Trump had any involvement with the inaugural committee and how its funds were doled out, according to the Times.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/16/melania-trumps-volunteer-rankles-white-house-staff-with-her-all-access-pass-415669


Melania Trump’s ‘volunteer’ rankles White House staff with her all-access pass

First Lady Melania Trump’s friend and special adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has enjoyed a unique and eyebrow-raising set-up over the past year: in her status as a “contracted volunteer,” the Manhattan socialite has a government-issued phone and computer, as well as a blue badge that grants her total access to the West Wing.

But unlike other administration officials, the former Vogue event planner continues to live in New York City and only pops into the White House every few weeks, where her on-paper job is to consult with the First Lady on her initiatives, according to two White House officials.

That special arrangement has soured colleagues in the White House, who have long seen Wolkoff as a person capitalizing on her relationship with the First Lady while offering little in return. “One thing that grates at people is she is supposed to work at the White House, but she still gets to live in New York City,” said one administration official.

But that unique status is now in question, after the New York Times reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee paid close to $26 million to an event-planning firm that was founded by Wolkoff, and that she personally pocketed at least $1.62 million from the committee that was supposed to donate any remaining funds to charity.

“Mrs. Trump had no involvement with the [Presidential Inaugural Committee], and had no knowledge of how funds were spent,” said her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham.

But now the question circulating in the White House is whether the First Lady will take any action to sever ties with the special adviser over her self-enriching set-up — quick action that would mark a style change from the West Wing, where the president often dawdles in firing his advisers, or has other people do the deed for him.

Grisham did not shoot down rumors that the First Lady was considering cutting off the professional relationship for good. When asked if Wolkoff would be fired, Grisham said: “Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff is a contracted volunteer with the Office of the First Lady and has specified duties as outlined in her contract.” Wolkoff is not paid a government salary.