Judge tosses part of DC AG's suit against Trump inaugural committee
A judge in Washington, D.C., dropped part of a lawsuit against former President Trump's 2017 Inaugural Committee by ruling the nonprofit had not misused funds by spending $1 million on ballrooms and meeting spaces at Trump's D.C. hotel.
The Washington Post reported D.C. Superior Court Judge José M. López did allow another part of the suit, filed by the district's attorney general Karl A. Racine, to continue, which claimed the committee misused assets for the Trump family's personal gain. The committee, technically a nonprofit, is not allowed to privately benefit its leader, the Post noted.
"It’s a big deal that our lawsuit is moving forward and going to trial," a spokesperson from the Office of the Attorney General for D.C. said in a statement to The Hill. "The Inaugural Committee misspent more than $1 million in nonprofit funds to unlawfully benefit private interests. We cannot allow those in power to get away with using money to illegally enrich themselves and their families.”
Racine’s lawsuit, filed in 2020, claimed the committee misused funding by spending about $1 million on spaces at Trump’s D.C. hotel. The attorney general asserted that other venues offered spaces at lower rates or at no cost. The Trump Organization and committee, however, claimed the pricing was “market rate,” according to the Post.
López rejected Racine’s argument that the inaugural committee “wasted” its funds on Trump’s hotel. The judge said for the spending to be considered “waste,” it would need to be “so far beyond the bounds of reasonable business judgment that its only explanation was bad faith,” the Post reported.
López also said that he would need to hear more witnesses to make a decision on Racine’s other claim of “private inurement.”
“Did higher ranking Trump family officials have the ability to control the workings of the [committee]? Did members of the [committee] ignore internal recommendations to pay the Trump Hotel for services that could have been offered free?” López asked, per the Post.
Ultimately, the judge said the suit would proceed because “a genuine dispute of material fact exists,” according to the newspaper.
