Leftover inaugural funds still unknown

Trump raised record $106.7M, pledged to donate unused funds

Six months after he was sworn in, the committee that raised a record $106.7 million for President Trump’s inaugural activities has not detailed how much remaining money sits in its bank accounts or revealed the charities officials have said will receive the surplus money.

Thomas Barrack, a California investment manager who oversaw the inaugural committee, said that information will be disclosed later this year.

Filings “later in the fall will show that millions of dollars of reserve funds will be allocated to various charities, institutions and foundations in an amount that surely will exceed any previous inauguration,” Barrack said in a statement sent through a spokeswoman, who would not elaborate on the timing. Barrack’s statement came in response to a USA TODAY inquiry about the leftover funds.

Trump shattered records with his inaugural committee haul, doubling the $53 million President Obama collected in 2009 for his first swearing-in festivities. Billionaires, corporate interests and a several NFL team owners were among the big donors. A single contributor, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, shelled out $5 million.

Taxpayers foot the bill for the actual swearing-in on the west side of the U.S. Capitol and the immense security and cleanup costs associated with the event. But private donations pay for all the other celebrations, from glitzy inaugural balls to concerts on the National Mall.

Inaugural committees have to disclose donations of $200 or more to the Federal Election Commission 90 days after the event but are not required to detail their spending or surpluses in those reports.

There are few restrictions on how surplus funds are used. But in April, Trump’s committee announced that leftover money would go to charities to be disclosed later.

It’s not unusual for inaugural committees, which operate as non-profit groups, to have surplus funds or take some time to close their books.

Internal Revenue Service filings from 2006, two years after President George W. Bush’s second inauguration, show the committee directing $1.68 million in leftover money to non-profits, including $500,000 to what would become the National Museum of African American History and Culture and $100,000 to thenfirst Lady Laura Bush’s foundation supporting libraries. It closed its operations in early 2007.

Filings “later in the fall will show that millions of dollars of reserve funds will be allocated to various charities, institutions and foundations.”

Thomas Barrack