President Donald Trump's inaugural committee was ordered on Monday to turn over documents about its donors, finances and activities to federal prosecutors in New York, according to two people familiar with the investigation into the committee's activities.
The subpoena seeks an array of documents, including all information related to inaugural donors, vendors, contractors, bank accounts of the inaugural committee and any information related to foreign contributors to the committee, according to a copy reviewed by The Washington Post.
Inaugural committee spokesman Kristin Celauro said the committee had received the subpoena and was still reviewing it.
"It is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry," she said.
A second spokesman, Owen Blicksilver, declined to answer questions about which documents prosecutors requested. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which issued the subpoena, declined to comment.
Prosecutors are seeking documents related to all of the committee's donors and event attendees; any benefits handed out, including tickets and photo opportunities with the president; federal disclosure filings; vendors; contracts; and more, one of the people familiar with the investigation said.
The request for documents, which was first reported by ABC News, is a sign of another widening legal headache for Trump, whose business, personal charitable foundation and campaign are under investigation by state and federal authorities.
The document indicates that prosecutors are investigating crimes related to conspiracy to defraud the United States, mail fraud, false statements, wire fraud and money laundering.
In the subpoena, investigators also showed interest in whether any foreigners illegally donated to the committee, as well as whether committee staff knew that such donations were illegal, asking for documents laying out legal requirements for donations. Federal law prohibits foreign contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees and inaugural funds.
Prosecutors also requested all documents related to vendors and contractors with the inaugural committee, which raised a record $107 million and spent lavishly.
Only one individual was named as part of the subpoena's demand for documents: Imaad Zuberi, a former fundraiser for President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who was seeking inroads with Trump and whose company, Avenue Ventures, gave $900,000 to the inaugural committee. The subpoena also seeks documents related to his company.
A spokesman said Zuberi was unaware of having been named in the subpoena, and noted that he gave directly and generously to the inaugural committee, along with many others who donated more.
As part of their inquiry, prosecutors in Manhattan have pursued the possibility that the inaugural committee made false statements to the Federal Election Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. It can be a crime to knowingly make false or fraudulent statements to a federal agency.
The inaugural committee disclosed a list of its donors to the commission, and the prosecutors are examining whether that list is complete and accurate, the person said. If a donor was omitted from the report, prosecutors could take an interest in that, as well.
People familiar with the subpoena said prosecutors are interested in potential money laundering as well as election fraud, though it is possible that the prosecutors do not suspect the inaugural committee of such violations. The prosecutors cited those crimes in the subpoena simply as justification for their demand for documents.
The inaugural committee's chairman was Thomas Barrack, a close friend of the president. His close aide working on the inaugural committee was Rick Gates, the former deputy to Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who has been convicted of and pleaded guilty to several crimes in connection with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Gates has pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to the FBI, and has been cooperating with Mueller's team for nearly a year.
No one who worked for the committee has been accused of wrongdoing, and a subpoena is an initial step in the inquiry. Barrack and other inaugural committee officials are not named in it.
The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn is separately investigating whether inaugural officials helped foreigners illegally funnel donations to Trump's inaugural committee using so-called straw donors to disguise their donations, people briefed on that inquiry said.
The Manhattan investigation into the inaugural committee grew out of the investigation into Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer. Cohen is due to begin a prison sentence next month after pleading guilty last year to a range of crimes, including one campaign finance-related charge.
Information for this article was contributed by Maggie Haberman and Ben Protess of The New York Times; by staff members of The Associated Press; and by Rosalind S. Helderman and Michael Kranish of The Washington Post.
A Section on 02/05/2019