Secret Service has paid rates as high as $650 a night for rooms at Trump's properties
Source: Washington Post
Politics
Secret Service has paid rates as high as $650 a night for rooms at Trump's properties
By David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O'Connell, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey
Feb. 7, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. EST
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.
Those charges, compiled here for the first time, show that 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.
At Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 rate dozens of times in 2017, and a different rate, $396.15, dozens more times in 2018, according to documents from Trump's visits.
And at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 a month to use a three-bedroom cottage on the property, an unusually high rent for homes in that area, according to receipts from 2017. Trump's company billed the government even for days when Trump wasn't there.
These payments appear to contradict the Trump Organization's own statements about what it charges members of his government entourage. "If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free -- meaning, like, cost for housekeeping," Trump's son Eric said in a Yahoo Finance interview last year. (1)
{snip}
The Secret Service always comes with him, as it does with all presidents. But the Trump Organization has assured the public that it is giving the government a great deal. Last year, Eric Trump told Yahoo Finance that when his father does visit his properties, he is legally required to charge something.
Eric Trump did not say what law required Trump to charge his own government, and the Secret Service did not respond to questions asking what law he was referring to. The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose internal directives state, "DHS may accept gifts to carry out program functions." (2)
"If he stays at one of his places, the government actually .?.?. 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 bucks," Eric Trump said. (3)
That appears to be wrong.
{snip}
Joshua Partlow, Nate Jones and Alice Crites contributed to this report.
David A. Fahrenthold is a reporter covering the Trump family and its business interests. He has been at The Washington Post since 2000, and previously covered Congress, the federal bureaucracy, the environment and the D.C. police. Follow https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold
Jonathan O'Connell is a reporter focused on economic development, corporate accountability and the Trump Organization. Follow https://twitter.com/OConnellPostBiz
Carol Leonnig is an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2000. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her work on security failures and misconduct inside the Secret Service. Follow https://twitter.com/CarolLeonnig
Josh Dawsey is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2017. He previously covered the White House for Politico, and New York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Wall Street Journal. Follow https://twitter.com/jdawsey1
(1) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/g-7-at-trump-golf-resort-saves-the-us-money-eric-trump-192655739.html
(2) https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/foia/mgmt_directive_112_02_gifts_to_the_department_of_homeland_security.pdf
(3) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/g-7-at-trump-golf-resort-saves-the-us-money-eric-trump-192655739.html
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-has-paid-rates-as-high-as-650-a-night-for-rooms-at-trumps-properties/2020/02/06/7f27a7c6-3ec5-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Jesus! Takes a lot of guts to openly funnel taxpayer's $$$ to your own business, but you have the unmitigated gall to GOUGE as well??
How much are we paying for the ImPOtuS's spawn to stay at his properties?
And what their accompanying Secret Service agents are charged?
It's a wonder that Eric can even walk OR talk!
since it's not an impeachable offense and would be in the public interest. 
Get it all together into one pile of GRIFT.
SHOCK AND AWE us. Once the totality is seen even some MAGAt heads may explode.
