Mar-a-Lago sent White House a $1,000 liquor bill after aides helped themselves to bar

[RandySF]

Staff at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., reportedly billed the White House about $1,000 after aides helped themselves to drinks at one of the resort's bars while Secret Service asked the bartender to leave.

A ProPublica investigation published Wednesday found that a group including at least two former White House aides, then-chief strategist Stephen Bannon and then-deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, on an April 2017 trip met at a private bar on the resort's premises before Secret Service agents ushered the bartender away for them to drink in private.

After the group left, staff at the Trump Organization property tallied up the alcoholic drinks consumed, which totaled just over $800, according to ProPublica. A 20 percent service charge pushed the final bill to $1,076.

The two men have since left the Trump administration. When contacted by ProPublica, Hagin reportedly did not respond to requests for comment and Bannon denied drinking at Mar-a-Lago and said he did not recall the episode. An email obtained by ProPublica from Brooke Watson, Mar-a-Lago's catering director, confirmed the aides by name as being in attendance.




https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mar-a-lago-sent-white-house-a-dollar1000-liquor-bill-after-aides-helped-themselves-to-bar-report/ar-AAAMbkr?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[mobeau69]

1. Muichelle Obama wrote about this type of spending in her book.

Can't quote everything she wrote verbatim but basically the 1st family is responsible for these bills.

They pay for their own groceries and personal entertaining just like a normal family does. There's an exception for state dinners of course but they basically pay for everything else.

Of course, I'm sure rump is somehow using a way around the rules so that the taxpayers will pay for these drinks in the end.

I was surprised reading this section of her outstanding book.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Jimmy Carter also talked about it in his book

He was surprised at how much their food bill was just after the first week - think it was over $600, a lot back then. And not all his kids lived in the White House, him and Rosalynn and little Amy, his eldest was married and his youngest son Jeff may still have been away at school.

He said when they moved into the White House, they were asked what the family liked to eat - and they were told that was no problem since the staff ate much the same things.

[47of74]

4. That would be about 2700 today.

Wow. Organic wasn’t a thing back then but the staff must’ve bought the most expensive food they could’ve. And yes I know some of the cost is justified due to the measures they’d have to take to procure and prepare the food. But still n

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I guess it's possible that the whole family gathered at the White House that initial week

Including Miss Lillian! But I agree that is a shocking amount, as he said - especially since the Carters weren't used to eating anything fancy. It was easier on the staff since family meals were what they were used to fixing for themselves.

[47of74]

2. Bannon claimed he didn't drink

And that he doesn’t remember the private Malware-A-Tugjob party

Six days later, on April 13, Mar-a-Lago created a bill for those drinks, tallying $838 worth of alcohol plus a 20% service charge. It covered 54 drinks (making for an average price of $18.62 each) of premium liquor: Chopin vodka, Patron and Don Julio Blanco tequilas and Woodford Reserve bourbon. Watson’s email did not specify how many people consumed the alcohol or who the participants were. (It stated that she was told the participants included then-strategist Steve Bannon and then-deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin. Bannon, who has said he stopped drinking years ago, said he didn’t drink at Mar-a-Lago and didn’t recall the episode. Hagin did not respond to requests for comment.)

[Dorian Gray]

5. Why was a 20%

service charge added when staff was sent outside?

[Ilsa]

6. We paid for our own liquor on business trips if

there wasn't a client involved.

[uncle ray]

7. i wonder how staff knew what they drank.

surveillance cameras? what else did they capture?

[JHB]

8. I presume they simply took an inventory.

If they know what they started the night with, and know what was left after the group left, they can bill appropriately. They don't need to know if the scotch that was drunk was with soda, on the rocks, or neat, just how much of the ingredients are no longer in stock.

[uncle ray]

9. well, I presume that place has enough cameras to shoot MTVs Real World.

we could both be right.

my concern is not with how they account for alcohol usage.

[GoCubsGo]

10. Interesting, since your average federal employee has to pay for their own booze.

I worked 25 years for a state agency that contracted to the federal government, and for the government, itself. One of the things employees cannot be reimbursed for is alcoholic beverages. Apparently Deranged Donnie believes he and his flying monkeys are above the law here, too.

[StarfishSaver]

11. When I worked in government, I was reimbursed for food and beverage but alcohol

wasn't reimbursed.

[tanyev]

12. I've worked for city and county governments and both had very strict policies on travel expenses.

First of all, drinking alcohol on city/county time was forbidden. Secondly, if you were at a conference and the city/county was paying for your 3 meals a day it was OK to have alcoholic drinks with your evening meal, but they had to be paid for out of your own pocket--not tax dollars. I would assume there are similar policies in place for federal employees. Think how quickly the Republicans would have been talking about impeachment if something like this had happened even once under President Obama.

[Blue_Tires]

13. Is this draining the swamp or not? I can't tell anymore...

Meanwhile Chelsea Clinton can't even get a fucking birthday card without both the left and right demanding a congressional investigation...

[Initech]

14. Trump seems like the kind of cold hearted asshole who would do something like that.

He also seems like he would hold a charity fundraiser and bill the charity for the exact amount of money they raised.

[MrsCoffee]

15. Denied drinking and said he didn't recall the episode.

Yeah, that sounds exactly like someone who wasn’t drinking.