Donald Trump Jr. was deposed earlier this month by Washington, D.C. attorney general Karl Racine in a probe of former President Trump’s inaugural committee, a court filing indicates.
Racine is spearheading a probe into the alleged misuse of inaugural funds involving a payment made by the Trump Organization to a D.C. hotel for nearly $50,000 in 2017, the week of the inauguration.
Trump Jr., a Trump Organization executive, in the deposition, stated he did not authorize spending $50,000 from his father’s inaugural committee on hotel rooms for his friends.
Racine has sued the organization and Trump’s D.C. hotel over misuse of inaugural funds.
He has accused both entities of “blatantly and unlawfully abusing nonprofit funds to enrich the Trump family.”
The former President’s son and the Trump Organization have denied any such accusations.
Donald Trump Jr. deposed in D.C. lawsuit over inauguration funds https://t.co/EI8OIWh5Qx
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 25, 2021
Racine, a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention and supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, has had a bit of a fixation with the Trump family for years now.
So it’s no surprise that he’s deposed Donald Trump Jr.
Racine took part in a lawsuit against the former President on June 12, 2017, that alleged Trump had not fulfilled his pledge to separate his political activities from his business ventures while serving as president.
Yes, the good ol’ emoluments clause.
The Supreme Court ended the lawsuit last month, declaring them moot as he was no longer in office.
New filing from @AGKarlRacine
shows Donald Trump, Jr. was deposed on Feb. 11Prosecutors are seeking more info on an almost $50k payment by the inaugural committee, to cover a block of rooms reserved by Trump Org
(reposted w/ corrected date)https://t.co/uFvwxVEzsi
— Ilya Marritz (@ilyamarritz) February 24, 2021
Racine’s obsession with the Trump family also includes reviewing the potential for charges against the former President for his alleged role in the Capitol riot in early January.
“Lawyers inside the Washington, DC attorney general’s office are working to determine if it is legally viable to use district statutes to charge former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in the insurrection,” CNN reported two weeks ago.
They add that Racine’s office was “collaborating at a high level with federal prosecutors.”
DC attorney general weighs legal viability of charging Trump under local statute for Capitol riot https://t.co/ESysk0NMMJ pic.twitter.com/DUnYwFToRW
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) February 13, 2021
Law enforcement officials tasked with protecting the Capitol testified earlier this week that they did not anticipate the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, indicating there was no way President Trump could have either.
Also deposed in the current case are Donald Trump Jr’s sister, Ivanka, and former Trump campaign deputy campaign manager Rick Gates.
According to the court documents, Trump Jr.’s deposition “raised further questions about the nature of the Loews Madison invoice and revealed evidence that Defendants had not yet produced to the District.”
Racine is reportedly seeking more time to collect further information and conduct three more depositions for the case.