Melania Trump cuts ties with adviser paid $26M for inauguration

The first lady has cut ties with an adviser whose firm was paid $26 million for the inauguration. (AP)

WASHINGTON – Melania Trump has cut ties with an adviser whose firm was paid $26 million to help plan the president's inauguration.

Mrs. Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, confirms Tuesday that the first lady's office has "severed the gratuitous services contract" it had with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.

Winston Wolkoff is a New York-based event planner and longtime friend of the first lady. She'd been working as an unpaid White House adviser to Mrs. Trump.

The New York Times first reported on the termination of Winston Wolkoff's White House contract.

The first lady's spokeswoman has said Mrs. Trump had no role with the inaugural committee and didn't know how the money was being spent.

Recent tax filings show that the inaugural committee paid two private companies more than $50 million for event planning.