Washington: US President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee spent $10,000 on makeup for his aides, thousands of dollars on room service orders and plane tickets for the leader’s inauguration, the media reported.
The details were revealed in a report in The New York Times on Monday about Trump’s inaugural committee’s allocation of funds when he took office in January 2017.
It said $10,000 was spent on makeup for 20 aides at an evening event. There was another $30,000 in per diem payments to contract staff members.
The Times also reported that the committee covered contract staff members’ room service orders, plane tickets and taxi rides, among other things.
The collective bill at the Trump International Hotel totalled more than $1.5 million, according to the report.
The committee raised a record $107 million for the inauguration, about twice as much as former President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush raised for their inaugurations.
Most of the funds raised were reportedly spent on payroll expenses and about 40 entities, including hotel chains and other vendors. About $5 million was reportedly given to charity.
The Times said that there was no indication that an investigation was opened into the committee’s spending.
However, the committee was facing scrutiny over its donors. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that federal prosecutors in New York were probing whether Trump’s 2017 inauguration committee accepted donations in exchange for access to the administration.
The daily said that investigators were also checking whether any foreign donations were passed through Americans and if any other donations went unrecorded. People involved with the committee told the newspaper that they vetted every donor.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]