Inauguration donations make the perfect slush fund: no disclosure requirements,
no caps on individual funds, and no requirements on what to do with leftover monies.
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-inauguration-donations-funds-missing-steve-kerrigan-congress-714118
Trump's inaugural committee made several vows to the media throughout 2017 that it would release the remaining funds to charity organizations, including a promise of $3 million for hurricane relief efforts after several storms ravaged Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Newsweek did not find a single charitable donation the group provided to any of the charities Barrack named as candidates for those funds, including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, has been trying to follow the money for months, mailing Barrack and Trump’s inaugural committee an inquiry into the whereabouts of the missing funds. His letters were returned to him on Tuesday—"it appears they closed up shop," Holman told Newsweek.
"Trump has driven home the points that inaugurations are a huge loophole in which corporate interests can buy political favors," he said, "and that we need to start regulating spending and having complete disclosure surrounding these events."
As it currently stands, inaugural fundraising is described by government ethics experts as the "wild, wild west" of political donations. There are no disclosure requirements for how any of the money is spent, no mandated caps on individual donations and no requirements for what must be done with any remaining money, except that leftover funds cannot be transferred to campaign committees.
