Trump luxury properties have charged US government $1.1M since inauguration: report
Luxury properties owned by President Trump have charged the U.S. government over $1.1 million since his inauguration, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Included in that number is the more than $21,800 the president's Bedminster, N.J., golf club charged the Secret Service for lodging this spring while the club was closed to guests due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Secret Service released a number of documents, including receipts and invoices, to the Post as part of a public records lawsuit. The documents show $188,000 in spending previously unknown to the Post, all at the Bedminster club.
The records do not offer further details about the rentals. While Trump himself did not visit the New Jersey club while it was closed, his daughter Ivanka Trump reportedly visited with her family at least once during the pandemic.
The family visited in April to celebrate Passover, when several of the largest Secret Service charges are found in the documents. Both New Jersey and Ivanka Trump’s home of Washington, D.C., were under stay-at-home orders at the time, but New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) orders exempted federal employees.
The federal government has yet to disclose how much taxpayer money it has paid to Trump-owned properties, according to the Post. The president has visited his properties nearly 300 times since taking office and briefly proposed holding a summit of world leaders at one before reversing himself.
“The waste inherent in this is appalling,” Public Citizen Executive Vice President Lisa Gilbert told the Post. “They’re nickel-and-diming the American people. At a moment when every penny counts.”
The president's son Eric Trump, who the Trump Organization has said is in charge of the company’s day-to-day operations, said last year that the company only charges the government “like 50 bucks” per room. The Post has not found any documentation supporting this claim. Government documents indicate the company has charged up to $650 per night and in other cases added further charges. For example, the president’s Turnberry resort in Scotland charged Secret Service personnel $1,300 to move furniture in 2018, according to one receipt.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Trump Organization for comment.