president obama and for president bush? i don t think it is necessarily true that folks expect something in return. there are a number of companies and entities, packets, that year after year after year, every time there is a presidential inauguration, they give to the inaugural committee. i think what the southern district attorney of new york is investigating is whether foreign entities, one, gave dollars, two, if anyone who gave money to the inauguration then referred, received favors such as priority jobs or contracts with the united states government, or various governmental entities. and that, those questions remain to be answered. i think that s why the southern district attorney s office is looking into, it and we ll know more once they file additional paperwork. but i definitely think that if there were any foreign contributions, if there is a question, i think the fact that there is a question means that there was something in michael cohen s office, during that raid, that
about it in 2017. the white house is distancing itself from the probe. that doesn t have anything to do with the president or the first lady. the biggest thing the president did in his engagement in the inauguration was to come here, and raise his hand and take the oath of office. meanwhile, an investigation by pro-publica found the inauguration paid the trump organization for room, meals and event space at trump s washington hotel and ivanka trump, the president s daughter and a senior executive at the trump organization was involved in negotiating the prices at above market value, for venue rentals by the inaugural committee. a spokesman for ivanka s lawyer said that ivanka said discussions should be at a fair market rate. and it isn t just about the money. the washington post reports that certain attendees at the inauguration also reportedly caught the attention of counter-intelligence officials at the fbi. though it s unclear which attendees.
and perhaps more importantly, did top donors pay big money in exchange for access and influence in the trump white house? the wall street journal first broke the story. part of this is certainly looking at what these donors gave and what they expected or what they referred but it is also partly about what happened with the inaugural committee s expenditures. this all apparently stems from the raid on former trump attorney michael cohen s office. according to the wall street journal, investigators seized a recording of a conversation between cohen and a woman named stephanie winston wokoff, a former adviser to melania trump and one of the key planners for donald trump s 2017 inauguration. she reportedly expressed concern during that conversation about how the inaugural committee was spending money. this is a wow. real estate developer tom barack who ran the inaugural committee denied there was a new investigation. adding, he had been questioned
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