Trump Entities Will Pay $750K To Settle Inaugural Funds Suit

The Washington, D.C., Attorney General settled a lawsuit against Donald Trump's Presidential Inaugural Committee and the Trump Organization, resolving allegations that the committee abused its nonprofit status by misusing funds to enrich the Trump family. The attorney general sued the committee and Trump’s family business in 2020, claiming that the committee overpaid the company’s Washington, D.C., hotel for event space and that those payments “improperly served to enrich the Trump Entities and its owners.” Under the settlement, the defendants must pay $750,000 to the D.C. government, the Wall Street Journal reports. The funds will be divided between two nonprofit groups that promote civic engagement and youth leadership. “Nonprofit funds cannot be used to line the pockets of individuals, no matter how powerful they are,” said Attorney General Karl Racine. Trump called the lawsuit “another example of weaponizing law enforcement against the Republican Party.” Lee Blalack, the inaugural committee's lawyer, said that the committee continues to dispute the lawsuit’s claims. “Settlement was prudent simply to avoid the significant costs of litigating these baseless allegations through trial,” he said.