Schiff says House Intelligence panel will examine possible foreign funding of Trump’s inaugural committee

By Tom Hamburger and
Michael Kranish December 14 at 7:35 PM

The incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Friday that his panel plans to investigate possible “illicit foreign funding or involvement in the inauguration” of President Trump, an event that was supported by more than $100 million in private donations.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said that the committee has examined allegations about improper inaugural funding and that the topic remains “a matter of interest and concern,” while declining to provide specifics.

“Whenever a foreign nation uses its financial wealth to violate the laws of our country, it undermines our democracy,” Schiff said in a statement. “When another country does so in concert with U.S. persons, it carries the additional risk of compromising them and presents a particularly acute counterintelligence risk.”

In a statement, the inaugural committee said that it was “in full compliance with all applicable laws and disclosure obligations,” adding that “donors were vetted in accordance with the law and no improprieties have been found regarding the vetting of those donors.”

The record sums that flowed into Trump’s inaugural committee have also drawn the attention of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who has been probing whether foreign money was involved in the event as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

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