Last year, President Trump raised over $100 million for his inaugural festivities, but aside from Toby Keith and Three Doors Down’s steep asking price (allegedly $25 million), the whereabouts of all that money was unknown until this week. According to tax filings released on Thursday, the inaugural committee paid close to $26 million to an event planning company started by Melania Trump’s current senior advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, and donated $5 million to charity.
The tax filling reveals that one of the donations was an already publicized $3 million contribution for hurricane relief as well as $1.75 million for “groups involved in decorating and maintaining the White House and the vice president’s residence.” Most of the fund went to went toward inauguration-related expenses, with nearly $51 million given to two companies. One of those companies, WIS Media Partners, was created in December 2016 by Wolkoff, who is also a longtime friend of Melania Trump. Winston Wolkoff has since moved from party planning into the (unpaid) advisor role with Melania Trump’s official office.
While much of Winston Wolkoff’s firm likely paid their money directly to other vendors, including former Apprentice producer Mark Burnett, who’s participation came at the request of President Trump. However and according to one inaugural committee member, Winston Wolkoff was paid $1.62 million for her work.
(Via New York Times)