WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia and former President Donald Trump reached a settlement Tuesday in a lawsuit the city brought against his business and inaugural committee that accused them of improperly spending nonprofit funds.
The eight-sided filing in D.C. Superior Court says Trump has agreed to pay $750,000 to the city government.
The settlement agreement says that Trump's presidential inaugural committee misdirected funds by overpaying for events at the Trump Hotel to the private benefit of the Trump Hotel and Trump Organization and paying for a hotel room contract at the Loews Madison Hotel. The payments caused the committee to exceed or abuse its lawful authority, it said. The settlement said that Trump and the parties involved dispute these allegations on numerous grounds and deny having engaged in any wrongdoing or unlawful conduct. The city is donating $750,000 to local nonprofits that educate youth about democracy and civics, according to D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. The court filing said that the money will be split between the DC Action and the Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation.
He said that if you violated DC nonprofit law no matter how powerful you are, you ll pay.
The city filed a lawsuit more than two years ago, in January 2020. Racine said at the time that the inaugural committee spent more than $1 million at the Trump International HotelTrump International Hotel, including for a private party for Trump's children. The attorney general said in the suit that D.C. law requires nonprofits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies. In response to the settlement announcement, Trump said in a statement, Given the impending sale of the Trump International HotelTrump International Hotel, Washington D.C. and with absolutely no admission of liability or guilt, we have reached a settlement to end all litigation with Democrat Attorney General Racine. As crime rates in our nation s capital increase, it is necessary that the Attorney General focus on those issues rather than a further leg of the greatest Witch-Hunt in political history, Trump said. This was another example of weaponizing law enforcement against the Republican Party and the former President of the United States.