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Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The attorney general of Washington, D.C., said Wednesday his office is suing President Donald Trump's inaugural committee and other companies for spending non-profit funds at a Trump-owned hotel to celebrate his inauguration three years ago. Attorney General Karl Racine said the committee sought to "enrich the Trump family" by spending the non-profit funds -- even overpaying to use facilities at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
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"District law requires nonprofits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies," Racine said in a statement. "In this case, we are seeking to recover the non-profit funds that were improperly funneled directly to the Trump family business."
The Trump inaugural committee raised $107 million for the event when Trump took office in January 2017, more than doubling the previous record for any other incoming president.
The 18-page lawsuit says the committee booked the Trump hotel ballroom for $175,000 per day and spent $300,000 on food and beverage, despite concerns from its own event planner. It also said Trump's team hardly used the facilities it paid for.
"The [inaugural committee] grossly misused its nonprofit funds to make an unfair and unjustified payment of $1.03 million to the Trump Hotel, even after senior committee staff and members of the Trump family were warned that the charges were unreasonable," Racine's suit said.
"In fact, the Trump Hotel ended up charging rental rates that were well in excess of its own pricing guidelines. The PIC's payment flowed directly to the Trump family, flouting the PIC's bylaws prohibiting the use of its funds for private enrichment."
The committee didn't immediately respond to Wednesday's suit, but Trump Committee Chairman Thomas J. Barrack Jr. previously defended the panel's spending, saying Trump's inauguration was "executed in elegance and seamless excellence without incident or interruption."
