$900,000 in taxpayer money has gone to Trump's properties throughout his presidency


Taxpayers are directly enriching the Trump family's businesses, sometimes even footing the bill for rooms no one is using, The Washington Post reports
It's no secret President Trump likes to visit his Trump Organization properties when he travels, and makes frequent visits to his Mar-a-Lago resort. So frequent, the Post reports, that the Secret Service rents out rooms at Mar-a-Lago when Trump isn't even there, just in case he makes a surprise visit.
The Secret Service's careful planning stems from a snub at Mar-a-Lago early in Trump's presidency, records and emails obtained by the Post reveal. The agents tasked with protecting Trump were trying to book a room near the president a few days in advance of a March 2017 trip, but were told they were all booked up. "I do have a Beach Cabana available ... across the street at the Beach Club," a Mar-a-Lago staffer emailed to the Secret Service.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From then on, the Secret Service booked rooms at Mar-a-Lago for two weeks at a time. "The agency was paying for rooms on nights when Trump wasn't even visiting — to be ready just in case Trump decided to go," the Post reports via a former Trump administration official. And it paid off for the Trump Organization. Taxpayers have covered more than $900,000 spent at Trump's businesses during his presidency, $570,000 of it stemming from Trump's travel.
White House spokesperson Judd Deere told the Post that it is "blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization." "We are building up a very large 'dossier' on the many false David Fahrenthold and others' stories," Deere said in a statement, referring to one of the Post reporters investigating Trump's businesses. Read more at The Washington Post.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year