Melania Trump Ends Contract With Adviser After $26 Million Inauguration Scandal, Reports ‘The New York Times’

After the news broke that the longtime adviser of Melania Trump paid roughly $26 million to an event planning firm for President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, the First Lady of the United States decided to end the contract with her adviser. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has been friends with the FLOTUS for years and had been her unpaid senior adviser but on a contract basis. A tax filing that was released on February 15 suggested that a payment to a firm was one of the largest expenses ever made.

According to The New York Times, the FLOTUS’ spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said that Wolkoff was employed as a “special government employee” who worked on some specific projects. Grisham went on to say that the office of Melania Trump had “severed the gratuitous services contract” with the adviser. She also thanked Wolkoff for all her hard work. It is said that the contract was terminated last week.

Sources said that the termination of Wolkoff’s contract was made due to the “displeasure” of the Trumps over the $25,843,509 paid to WIS Media Partners of Marina del Rey, California for “event production services.” USA Today reports that the inaugural committee was able to raise $106.7 million for the inauguration.

“We thank her for her hard work and wish her all the best.”

Donald Trump was also furious that Wolkoff also tagged another associate named David Monn along to help plan the 58th presidential inauguration. According to the tax filing, Monn’s firm was reportedly paid $3.7 million. Grisham said that Melania wasn’t involved with the inaugural committee and had no idea how the money was spent.

Wolkoff acknowledged the termination of her contract with Melania Trump and said in an email that the move would not affect her relationship with the Slovenia native. She added that she is looking forward to being the FLOTUS’ trusted adviser and would still offer her support on an “informal basis.” She went on to say that she is proud of the all the work she did for the president’s inauguration.

Wolkoff also said that WIS Media Partners spent most of the funds to the subcontractors including the satellite feeds for the global broadcasters during the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. She further said that some of the money went to the consulting and creative services, as well as the firm’s 15 members, including herself. She added that the firm’s expenditures were fully audited in March 2017. She considered all the news coverage of her work as “completely unfair” adding that there have been a handful of “unfair and untrue” statements about her.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff served as a senior adviser to Melania Trump and received no payments for her work.