WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's 2017 inaugural committee is under early stages of investigation by federal prosecutors into possible misuse of the 107 million U.S. dollars it raised from donations, according to U.S. media reports.
The investigation was reported on Thursday afternoon by The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter as saying that prosecutors at the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office are looking into whether some of the donors gave money with the aim of gaining access to the Trump administration or policy concessions in favor of them.
The Journal said that giving money in exchange for political favor and diverting funds from a nonprofit organization both could violate federal law.
News of the investigation came two days after Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal court in New York. He was convicted of tax evasion, lying to Congress, as well as breaking campaign-finance laws.
The WSJ said the probe partly stemmed from materials seized by Federal Bureau of Investigation officers in April from Cohen's home, office and hotel room, including a recording of conversation between Cohen and Stephanie Winston, who worked on the inauguration events. The recording, the newspaper added, is now in the hands of federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
In addition, The New York Times reported Thursday night that the inquiry also focused on whether people from the Middle East - including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - have made illegal donations under disguise to the inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super political action committee (PAC).
The Times said U.S. federal laws prohibit foreign contributions to inaugural funds of PACs.
Trump's inaugural committee issued a statement saying the inauguration was "in full compliance with all applicable laws."
"We are not aware of any evidence the investigation the Journal is reporting actually exists," read the statement, adding that the committee's finances "were fully audited internally and independently and are fully accounted."
According to the WSJ report, the inaugural committee has publicly identified vendors accounting for 61 million dollars of the 103 million dollars it spent, and it hasn't provided details on those expenses, according to tax filings. The report said that as a nonprofit organization, the fund is only required to make public its top five vendors.
The inaugural committee said in its statement that the names of donors were provided to the Federal Election Committee and "have been public for nearly two years and those donors were vetted in accordance with the law and no improprieties have been found regarding the vetting of those donors."
Asked for comments on the issue by the WSJ, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday that the inaugural spending "doesn't have anything to do with the President or the first lady."
