The Women’s March, one year later
As organizers mobilize again, we catch up with attendees of last year’s march
WASHINGTON – Nearly a year after President Trump’s inauguration, the committee that raised a record
$106.7 million for the event has not disclosed how much surplus money it still has or provided a final accounting of its finances.
“We must decline comment at this time,” Kristin Celauro, a spokeswoman for the inaugural committee’s chairman, Thomas Barrack, said this week in response to a USA TODAY inquiry.
Barrack, a California investment manager and longtime Trump friend, has said consistently that remaining money would go to charity. He announced plans in September to give
$3 million to three non-profit groups — the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse — to help with hurricane relief and said the committee planned more contributions “that serve America’s agenda.”
Officials with the American Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse, a group led by evangelist Franklin Graham, declined to comment about the inaugural committee donations, saying they do not disclose contributor information. Officials with the Salvation Army did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
Presidential inaugural committees are private fundraising vehicles that pay for the concerts, balls and other festivities that surround the swearing-in. Trump’s committee raised twice the
$53.2 million Barack Obama collected for his first inauguration.
The record haul was fueled by big checks from individuals and companies — some with interests before the government. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson was the largest single donor, contributing $5 million, Federal Election Commission records show.
Adelson was among an array of wealthy people and corporate giants contributing to the celebrations, including the Bank of America, AT&T, Dow Chemical, Boeing and Quicken Loans.
Though the committee must report names of donors who give at least $200, election law does not require an accounting of the spending. There are few restrictions on how leftover money is used.
Fred Wertheimer of the watchdog group Democracy 21 said the committee, as a non-profit group, can’t legally convert any of the money to personal use, such as paying legal expenses for Trump aides who are caught up in the special counsel and congressional inquiries into suspected Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
“It’s not a piggy bank,” he said. Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, said some of the leftover money went to renovations on the White House and the Naval Observatory, where Vice President Pence and his family live. This week, Grisham referred a question to the inaugural committee about the amount spent.
Steve Kerrigan, who served as chief of staff for Obama’s first inaugural committee and chairman for his second inauguration, said it was “entirely appropriate” to use surplus money for renovations on the White House. President Obama did the same and financed some public outreach programs, such as the Easter Egg Roll, with the leftover donations.
Kerrigan, who is running for Congress from Massachusetts, said it’s “shocking” that Trump’s team is not disclosing more information about how it is spending the record amount it collected for relatively modest celebrations. Trump attended three official balls compared with Obama’s 10.
“It is alarming that you would potentially have at least $50 million left over and no sense of how it was spent,” he said.
Kerrigan said that if he’s elected to Congress, he would draft a bill to create more transparency in inaugural spending.
“It is alarming that you would potentially have at least $50 million left over and no sense of how it was spent.” Steve Kerrigan, who worked on Barack Obama’s inaugurations