White House Cuts Ties With Aide Paid to Plan Inauguration

The White House says first lady Melania Trump is  no longer working with  one of her senior advisers, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. "The Office of the First Lady severed the gratuitous services contract with Ms.

Wolkoff.

We thank her for her hard work and wish her all the best," Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.

The former Vogue employee and Trump have known each other for years.

The first lady hired Wolkoff as a special government employee  in early 2017 , and she was reportedly working on various projects on a contract basis.

The New York Times reports  the contract ended earlier this month after it was revealed that an event firm Wolkoff created was paid almost $26 million by a nonprofit group that managed President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Wolkoff told The Times the firm kept just over $1.5 million to pay herself and the other employees, and that the majority of the funds went toward hiring subcontractors.

A spokeswoman for Melania Trump  said the first lady  had "no knowledge of how funds were spent" when it came to planning the inauguration.

Additional reporting from  Newsy affiliate CNN .