Trump agrees to pay $750k to settle lawsuit over inaugural committee’s payments to his DC hotel

Claims date back to 2017

Donald Trump has reached an agreement to pay $750,000 (£600,083) to Washington DC after he was accused of overcharging his inaugural committee for use of his Trump International hotel in the city.

Announcing the settlement on Tuesday, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said the case was being resolved “to avoid the cost, burden, and risks of further litigation” from the allegations, which date back to Mr Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

“We filed this lawsuit against the Trump Hotel, Trump, Inaugural Committee, and Trump Organization to recover misspent nonprofit funds and ill-gotten gains,” Mr Racine wrote on Twitter. “With today’s successful resolution, we’re returning the money to DC”.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the District of Columbia in 2020, sought to challenge an estimated $1m (£800,090) in overpayments to the hotel by the committee. Mr Trump and his business deny any wrongdoing.

The former president said in statement of his own on Tuesday: “With absolutely no admission of liability or guilt, we have reached an agreement all litigation with Democrat Attorney Racine”.

He continued by condemning Mr Racine for the probe and lawsuit, and said: “As crime rates are soaring in our nation’s capital, it is necessary that the attorney focus on those issues rather than a further leg of the greatest Witch-hunt in political history”.

Mr Trump has often referred to a number of investigations into his and his businesses alleged wrongdoing as “witch hunts”, including those by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Trump International hotel in Washington DC in February this year (AFP via Getty Images)

Her office and two district attorneys have been been looking at whether or not the Trump Organization committed financial fraud, with charges announced in July 2021 against longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who has pleaded not guilty. The wider probe is ongoing.

The $750,000 from the Trump International hotel settlement will be donated to two nonprofit groups that promote democracy and support youth in Washington DC, Mr Racine added following his announcement.

It comes days ahead of an expected agreement between the Trump Organiszation and a Florida-based investor group, who are expected to buy the DC property and rebrand it as a Waldorf Astoria. As The New York Times reports, the sell means the Trump name will soo be removed from the building.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.