The price that the Trump hotel proposed to charge to the inauguration was reduced after these initial concerns were raised, but the fee remained much higher than the same hotel had charged another nonprofit group during the inauguration, and still created concern among aides to Mr. Trump, emails collected during the lawsuit show.
The Trump Investigations
Card 1 of 7Numerous inquiries. Since Donald J. Trump left office, the former president has been facing civil and criminal investigations across the country into his business dealings and political activities. Here is a look at the notable inquiries:
Manhattan criminal case. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating whether Mr. Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, intentionally submitted false property values to potential lenders. But new signs have emerged that the inquiry may be losing steam.
New York State civil inquiry. The New York attorney general’s office has been assisting with the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation while conducting its own civil inquiry into some of the same conduct. The civil inquiry is focused on whether Mr. Trump’s statements about the value of his assets were part of a pattern of fraud or were simply Trumpian showmanship.
Georgia criminal inquiry. Mr. Trump himself is under scrutiny in Georgia, where the district attorney of Fulton County has been investigating whether he and others criminally interfered with the 2020 election results in the state. A special investigative grand jury has been seated in the case.
Jan. 6 inquiries. A House select committee and federal prosecutors are investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and examining the possible culpability of a broad range of figures — including Mr. Trump and his allies — involved in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Westchester County criminal investigation. The district attorney’s office in Westchester County, N.Y., appears to be focused at least in part on whether the Trump Organization misled local officials about the value of a golf course, Trump National Golf Club Westchester, to reduce its taxes.
Washington, D.C., lawsuit. The attorney general for the District of Columbia has sued Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee, saying it vastly overpaid his family business — by more than $1 million — for space at the Trump International Hotel during the January 2017 inaugural celebration. The lawsuit is set to go to trial in September.
The rental of the Trump hotel also included a special “friends and family” party sponsored by the adult children of Mr. Trump, Mr. Racine said in the lawsuit, a sign of how money donated to a nonprofit was being used for personal benefit.
The inaugural committee set up by Mr. Trump, which collected donations from corporations and individuals who later would often seek official action by the Trump administration to help their business interests, raised more than $107 million, far more than any previous inauguration.
The more than $1 million paid by the inauguration committee to the Trump hotel was seen by ethics watchdog groups as just the start of a pattern that lasted through the administration, with Mr. Trump and his family using his White House status to enrich themselves.
Under District of Columbia law, the attorney general oversees nonprofits, a power that the office has used in recent years to investigate a local nonprofit hospital and a theater company, among others accused of misuse of charitable funds.
Mr. Racine filed a motion on Tuesday asking Judge Yvonne Williams, of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to dismiss his 2020 lawsuit, after lawyers for the Trump Organization and the inauguration committee signed a deal detailing the terms of the proposed settlement.