The White House decides how much taxpayers subsidize Trump's campaign trips on Air Force One

Trump uses Air Force One as a campaign prop
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

As with all presidents of the modern era, President Trump's Air Force One flights are funded entirely by taxpayers when they are for official government business but are partially reimbursed by his campaign when they are for political travel. So who decides which trips are political and which are official, or which portion of a mixed-purpose trip the campaign has to cover, and at what cost? It's complicated, USA Today reports. And it's mostly secret.

"It's up to the White House to determine if the trip has a political purpose," Brendan Doherty, an expert on presidential travel and fundraising at the U.S. Naval Academy, tells USA Today. "We usually don't get a full picture of what that cost is." Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton called the reimbursement formula "a magic number."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.