Former President Donald Trump’s organizations agreed to pay the city of Washington DC $750,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged his business and inauguration committee improperly handled funds.
The eight-page legal brief filed in DC Superior Court detailed an agreement where Trump will pay the city government $750,000 over claims that his presidential inauguration committee misspent money by "overpaying for events at the Trump Hotel to the private benefit of the Trump Hotel and Trump Organization" and by "paying for a hotel room contract at the Loews Madison Hotel," NBC News reported.
The claim said that by doing so the committee "exceed[ed] or abuse[ed] its lawful authority."
In the agreement, the Trump organizations disputed the allegations based on “numerous grounds and deny having engaged in any wrongdoing or unlawful conduct."
According to the court document, the money will be split by the city between local nonprofits Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation and DC Action to “educate youth about democracy and civics.”
"We’re resolving our lawsuit and sending the message that if you violate DC nonprofit law - no matter how powerful you are - you’ll pay," D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine tweeted.
The lawsuit was filed by the city in January 2020, alleging that Trump’s inauguration committee used over $1 million in funds at the Trump International Hotel, including for a private party for Trump’s children. In the court filing, Racine said that city law "requires nonprofits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies."
The Trump organizations settled the lawsuit “with absolutely no admission of liability or guilt.”
"As crime rates are soaring in our nation’s capital, 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 in a statement. "This was yet another example of weaponizing law enforcement against the Republican Party and, in particular, the former president of the United States. So bad for our Country!"