An investigation by The Washington Post has found taxpayers are being charged luxe room rates to stay at Donald Trump properties.
”President Trump’s company charges the Secret Service for the rooms agents use while protecting him at his luxury properties — billing U.S. taxpayers at rates as high as $650 per night, according to federal records and people who have seen receipts.”
David Farenthold, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigating reporter who has spent years tracking how Trump makes money off taxpayers reports:
”Trump has an unprecedented — and largely hidden — business relationship with his own government. When Trump visits his clubs in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J., the service needs space to post guards and store equipment.
”Trump’s company says it charges only minimal fees. But Secret Service records do not show that.”
For example, at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, Trump charged the Secret Service $17,000 a month for the rental of a three bedroom cottage on the property, a rate the Post says is ”unusually high.”
The full extent of government spending is unknown. Documents have only been released at the request of news organizations.
From the Post:
“It is more than a little disconcerting, knowing this is going on, and not knowing what the actual numbers are,” said Jordan Libowitz, of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “That’s kind of crazy that we know the president is benefiting from the presidency, and we do not know how. We do not know how many taxpayer dollars are in his pocket.”
The Atlantic writes Eric Trump has said his father doesn’t charge the Secret Service:
“If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free,” he said. “So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”
That is a lie.
