Trump hotels charged Secret Service far above government rate, records show

Records released Monday by the House Oversight Committee reveal how the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service well above the normal government rate to stay at company hotels while protecting former President Donald Trump and his family, multiple outlets have reported.

The records are at odds with claims made by Eric Trump, the former president's son and head of the company while his father was in office, who said the Trump Organization often provided the Secret Service with "at cost" or even free hotel rooms, per The Washington Post. Rather, the records indicate that in multiple instances, "the Trump Organization billed the Secret Service far higher amounts than the approved government rate — in one case charging agents $1,185 a night to stay at the Trump International Hotel in [Washington, D.C.]," the Post writes.

Such "exorbitant rates ... raise significant concerns about the former president's self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump's struggling businesses," Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) wrote to Kimberly Cheatle, director of the Secret Service. "This raises concerns that the Trump Organization was profiting off the presidency," Maloney added in an interview with The New York Times.

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In a statement, Eric Trump doubled down on claims that "[a]ny services rendered to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies at Trump owned properties, were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free," adding that the Trump Organization would have been "substantially better off" serving "full-paying guests," but wanted to support the government.

Maloney noted in her letter to Cheatle that the committee is still awaiting more information, and has asked the Secret Service for additional documents on the matter, per The Wall Street Journal. The Oversight Committee obtained records from Trump's four-year presidency through September 2021, but lacks those concerning agency visits to Trump's private club at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, or any of his international properties, the Post adds.