Thread by @Monaheart1229

THIS is interesting.. Of the $107 million dollars raised by the Trump Inaugural Committee, $24 million was paid to Mark Burnett, the former Apprentice producer. Wonder how much HE kicked back to Trump? #FridayFeeling GREAT article!
vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/b…

2-This article is also interesting bc both the WH & the NYT postured Stephanie Winston Wolkoff as the bad guy, that she was pd 26 mil for 'consulting' w the TIC, when in fact there is a very different story. It was circuitously kicked back to Trump & friends!

3-And THIS: "By the time Cohen and Wolkoff spoke last summer, she had returned to her life in New York. He would soon plead guilty to eight counts in a federal courthouse downtown. But Cohen let Wolkoff know that, among other documents and recordings, the F.B.I. had seized hours

4-"of their own conversations that he had taped. According to people familiar with the recordings, some of the taped conversations dealt directly with the inauguration. In them, Wolkoff detailed her own contemporaneous concerns with the inauguration—about how money was being

5-"spent, the general chaos of the process, and the involvement of Trump’s adult children. During these conversations, Wolkoff also raised her issues with the two men in charge of the committee: Gates and Barrack."

6-"These recordings, in part, led the Southern District of New York to launch a criminal investigation into how the inaugural committee spent its record $107 million. Now, the investigation appears to be advancing. In December, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times

7-"reported that prosecutors are examining the committee’s spending, and investigating whether foreign donors from nations including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates funneled money to the committee in an effort to influence U.S. policy. On Monday, the inaugural

8-" committee received a subpoena from the S.D.N.Y. requesting documents related to spending and donors, vendors, and benefits handed out, as well as documents related to a wealthy donor who had once registered as a foreign agent working on behalf of the Sri Lankan government.

9-"The Journal reported that prosecutors have asked Gates about the inaugural fund’s spending and its donors. (Lorin Reisner, an attorney for Wolkoff, said in a statement: “Stephanie is not going to comment on these reports. She remains proud of her work on the inauguration,

10-"and we are confident that her conduct was proper in all respects.” Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.) The subpoena is the latest sign that, while the Mueller investigation could be winding down, the Southern District may be probing a variety of Trump-adjacent,

11-"avenues into the foreseeable future. An inquiry into the inauguration might also be acutely poignant, given Trump’s concurrent association with both his business and his incoming administration in its earliest days. It involved big money and outside influence.

12-"And it involved the Trump family in intimate, important ways." ~Vanity Fair

13-"In large part, Wolkoff worried about potential ethical issues surrounding the First Family-elect and their businesses. After all, Gates had been staying in a suite at the Trump Hotel for most of the inaugural planning. More than a dozen inaugural staffers had also been

14-"staying there. The Times reported last month that WIS alone had charged $31,000 for hotel rooms in the span of less than two months, including almost $18,000 at the Trump International Hotel. That did not include what was charged for room service, meals, and travel.

15-"In all, the Trump International Hotel was paid more than $1.5 million in inaugural funds, according to the Times...Trump was focused on the big-picture theatrics. He wanted to arrive on the Mall in a military plane with a military escort, much as he had arrived for tapings

16-"of The Apprentice on Trump Organization helicopters. He also wanted to have a full military parade, as well as tanks and helicopters on the ground...During the course of planning, Wolkoff had corresponded with Ivanka about the cost of using the Trump Hotel for events leading

17-"up to the swearing-in ceremony. On December 10, 2016, a Trump Organization employee sent an estimate for a ballroom rental and food and beverage minimum to use the Trump Hotel space for eight days. The price she quoted was $3.6 million, according to an e-mail...

18-"Gates approached a couple individuals working on the inauguration and asked if they would be willing to be paid directly for their work by a donor, rather than by the inaugural committee. They had received more donations than they’d initially anticipated, Gates told these

19-"people. Skirting the usual payment route could allow the inaugural committee to avoid reporting the full amount raised from donors...Barrack’s chairman dinner..A draft guest list for the event from days before the dinner included..key officials in the incoming administration.

20-"Among the list marked as confirmed were seven people described as “foreign ministers” for Saudi Arabia, one foreign minister from Qatar, and one from the United Arab Emirates. They were the only people on the list who were unnamed. (On Tuesday, ProPublica published a memo

21-"that showed Barrack’s investment firm planned to profit from its connections to the Trump administration. A spokesperson called it “an outline of a proposed potential business plan which was never acted upon or implemented.”)