The State Department spent $15,000 on rooms at a Trump hotel

(Image credit: STEPHANIE LAMY/AFP/Getty Images)

published 12 July 2017

The Washington Post revealed Wednesday that the State Department dropped more than $15,000 on rooms at a Trump hotel in Vancouver when members of the Trump family headed there in February for the grand opening. The rooms "reflect the first evidence of State Department expenditures at a Trump-branded property since President Trump took office in January," the Post noted. The hotel is not owned by the Trump Organization, but the Trump family business does have a management and licensing deal on the Vancouver property.

The opening ceremony was attended by Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, Eric Trump and his wife, and Tiffany Trump, all of whom require protection as members of the president's immediate family. A Secret Service spokesman said that it's not unusual on international trips to "utilize our partners at the State Department to assist us in facilitating our security plan." Citing department policy, a State Department official refused to specify whom the 19 rooms were booked for or why those individuals were staying at the Trump hotel.

In addition to the money spent on "a total of 56 nights booked at the Trump hotel in Vancouver," the Post reported the State Department "also spent $5,000 for rooms at a nearby Hyatt Regency, which is about a five-minute walk from the Trump hotel."