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Federal subpoena seeks documents on Trump's inauguration

By Allen Cone
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump dance at the Freedom Ball on January 20, 2017, in Washington, D.C. It was one of a series of balls to cap off his Inauguration. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump dance at the Freedom Ball on January 20, 2017, in Washington, D.C. It was one of a series of balls to cap off his Inauguration. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Donald Trump's inaugural committee, which raised a record-setting $107 million for the 2017 celebration, has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

"We have just received a subpoena for documents," Kristin Celauro, a spokeswoman with Owen Blicksilver PR, which has represented Thomas Barrack, a close friend of Trump who oversaw the inaugural committee, said in an email Monday night to Bloomberg News. "While we are still reviewing the subpoena, it is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry."

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A spokesman for the committee also confirmed to The New York Times it was still reviewing the subpoena and intended to cooperate with the investigation.

The subpoena lists only two specific names: Imaad Zuberi and his investment firm, Avenue Ventures LLC.

A spokesman for Zuberi, whose company gave $900,000 to the inaugural committee, told The New York Times he gave directly and generously to the inaugural committee but wasn't aware of having been named in the subpoena.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York didn't immediately comment.

Prosecutors are investigating how the money was spent and how tickets for the exclusive events were allocated.

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Barack Obama's first inauguration committee raised $53 million and was much more lavish in 2009 than festivities for Trump, The New York Times reported in 2017.

Attendees at Trump's events included wealthy Russians and Ukrainians. It hasn't been disclosed how they gained access and the extent of foreign money spent. No money can be accepted from foreign nationals because of Federal Election Commission rules.

Prosecutors reportedly are investigating whether inaugural committee made false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

Sam Patten, an associate of ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, has disclosed he helped foreign donors give money to the committee and a U.S. citizen served as a "straw" buyer of tickets for a Ukrainian client who wanted to attend the festivities, according to August legal filings.

Manafort has been convicted of bank and tax fraud.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is also examining the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. And the same federal prosecutors in New York are probing the Trump Organization.

Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was asked by reporters late last year when reports of an inaugural committee investigation emerged.

"That doesn't have anything to do with the president or first lady," Sanders said. "The biggest thing the president did in his engagement with the inauguration was to come out here and raise his hand and take the oath of office. The president was focused on the transition during that time and not on any of the planning for the inaugural."

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