Mar-a-Lago billed the White House $1,000 for top-shelf liquor that government aides reportedly served themselves

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

published 1 May 2019

While President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed a steak dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, Secret Service agents and White House aides were reportedly having an extravaganza of their own.

After Trump and Xi's dinner in April 2017, then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and then-Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon went into Mar-a-Lago's Library Bar with a group of advisers and told the bartender to leave so they could "speak confidentially," an email from a Mar-a-Lago staffer shows. "Secret Service did not allow the bartender to enter the room again," and "the group served themselves," the emails — obtained by ProPublica and WNYC — continue.

"Served themselves" puts it a bit lightly. The group downed 54 top-shelf drinks and left without paying, per emails and a $1005.60 bill that Mar-a-Lago sent to the State Department a few days later and ProPublica obtained. The emails from Mar-a-Lago's catering director didn't specify who was doing the drinking, though Bannon told ProPublica he hasn't had a drink in years, and Hagin didn't respond to requests for comment. Also unexplained is just why Mar-a-Lago charged a 20 percent service fee when its bartender was clearly not doing the serving.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox