Back in December of 2018, we learned that yet another investigation is now underway into actions taken by Donald Trump and members of his 2016 election team. The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors were looking at whether or not foreigners illegally donated to President Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump Super PAC in the hope of buying influence when it came to American policy.
The New York Times later confirmed the Journal report, noting:
“The inquiry focuses on whether people from Middle Eastern nations — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — used straw donors to disguise their donations to the two funds. Federal law prohibits foreign contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees and inaugural funds.”
But while this new scandal is merely the latest when it comes to possibly illegal activities committed by Donald Trump, it also appears to possibly implicate First Lady Melania Trump.
As was first reported by The Times, the Trump inaugural committee paid $26 million — almost a fourth of the $107 million raised for the inauguration — to WIS Media Partners, a company formed in December 2016 and founded by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who just so happens to be a close friend of Melania Trump. Wolkoff’s company was paid that enormous sum for “event production services,” whatever that means.
So the question that logically follows from those facts is: Why did the inaugural committee pay a close friend of the First Lady $26 million? And the question that comes from that query is this: Did Melania Trump receive anything in return? Was there a quid pro quo?
While we don’t have access to the inner workings of the investigation of the inaugural committee, former Deputy Attorney General Harry Litman said on MSNBC that the First Lady is facing legal exposure just for the appearance that something shady was behind that $26 million payment.
Oh, and even if the federal investigation goes nowhere thanks to the meddling of Attorney General William Barr, the AG for Washington, D.C. is already issuing subpoenas related to the Trump inaugural, and neither Barr or Trump can interfere with state probes or criminal charges brought by local authorities.
We’ve long known that Donald Trump and his children — who all play a role in his businesses — were in legal jeopardy. And it now appears that the First Lady may be under suspicion for criminal behavior. No matter how you slice it, Melania has a lot of questions to answer.
UPDATE: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has written a tell-all book about Melania and is also cooperating with investigators looking into the First Lady and possible illegal activities related to the 2016 Trump inaugural.