Melania Trump has severed ties with a longtime pal-turned-adviser whose firm was paid almost $26 million to help plan President Trump’s inauguration, according to a new report.
The first lady’s office last week ended the contract with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has been friends with Melania for years and had been an unpaid senior adviser, the New York Times reported.
Melania spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told the Times that the office had “severed the gratuitous services contract with Ms. Wolkoff,” who Grisham said worked as “a special government employee” on specific projects.
“We thank her for her hard work and wish her all the best,” she said.
Two sources told the Times that the move was the result of the Trumps’ displeasure at its report that the president’s inaugural committee shelled out almost $26 million and that Winston Wolkoff personally received $1.62 million.
The president also was steamed that Winston Wolkoff used a close friend, David Monn, to assist in planning inaugural events, according to the report.
Monn’s firm was paid $3.7 million for its work, according to the nonprofit group 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, the paper reported.
Grisham said Melania was not involved with the inaugural committee and “had no knowledge” of how the money was spent.
Winston Wolkoff defended her work on the inauguration, slammed news coverage of it and disputed the characterization that her contract was terminated because of news about payments from the inaugural committee.
“I was informed by the White House counsel’s office that all gratuitous volunteer contracts were ended,” she told the outlet in an email.
Winston Wolkoff claimed her contract’s termination would not affect her relationship with the first lady, who attended her 40th birthday bash in 2010.
“I expect to remain a trusted source for advice and support on an informal basis,” she wrote.
She also said news coverage about her work was “completely unfair,” though she did not cite any errors.
Inauguration committee chairman Tom Barrack, a California real estate investor and longtime friend of the president, had promised to donate any of the $107 million raised, but not used, to charity.
The lion’s share of those funds — more than $57 million — went to four event-planning companies, according to the Times.
The firm that received the largest payment was Winston Wolkoff’s company, which was incorporated in California in December 2016, roughly six weeks before the inauguration.