Trump Organization Got Rich off Secret Service Stays in Donald Trump’s Hotels, Overcharging Taxpayers with ‘Exorbitant’ Rates
When he was president, former POTUS Donald Trump pushed the narrative that he was funding his own career and wouldn't
Ellie Mason
When he was president, former POTUS Donald Trump pushed the narrative that he was funding his own career and wouldn't take a dime from taxpayers.
That turned out to be not exactly true. While Trump divested himself from the Trump Organization hierarchy in name, it appeared that he was still involved through his children and may have earned significant money by putting Secret Service agents up in his own hotels while on government business, and charging taxpayers "exorbitant" rates to do so.
See: Donald Trump Goes Dark in Anti-Semitic Truth Social Post: 'U.S. Jews have to get their act together … Before it's Too Late'
Taxpayers Foot $1.4M Bill for Trump Hotel Lodgings
According to newly-released records, Trump hotels and properties charged the Secret Service as much as five times more than the government rate for some accommodations.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 18, 2022
Over a four-year period, that amounted to $1.4 million in taxpayer money that went to the Trump Organization. pic.twitter.com/x07nWtBdpp
A new report from the House Oversight Committee is revealing that the Trump Organization made money off protecting Donald Trump, at the taxpayer's expense.
Business Insider reports, "House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney said on Monday that the 'exorbitant rates' the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service raises questions about former President Donald Trump's 'self-dealing' while in office.
In total, Maloney said the committee found that the Secret Service spent more than $1.4 million at Trump properties during his time in office. Maloney said this figure is likely incomplete and is pushing the agency tasked with protecting the president to disclose more of the spending."
In one example cited by Maloney, the Secret Service spent as much as $1,185 per room at the now-defunct Trump Hotel in Washington D.C.
There are regulations governing how much can be spent on lodgings, which the HOC says were ignored on at least 40 occasions.
This means that while Trump was staying at his own hotels "for free," his Organization was still making significant amounts of money by putting the Secret Service up in the same buildings at much higher prices than is approved for the government rate.
The money to pay for these lodgings to protect the then-President comes directly from taxpayer funding.
Eric Trump Offers Explanation
Maloney wrote in a letter to the Secret Service director, "The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents' frequent stays at Trump-owned properties 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."
Trump's son, Eric Trump, scoffs at the report. The same Eric Trump who once boasted that government employees stay free at their properties.
In response to the report, Eric said that the business would have been better off "if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests." But of course, they weren't – and the cash paying for it came from taxpayers unaware of the inflated prices.
Eric said in a statement, "President Trump funded the vast majority of his campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money and turned away billions of dollars in real estate deals worldwide after winning the Republican Primary. Furthermore, any 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."
The investigation is ongoing and parallels investigations in states like New York as to whether or not everything the Trump Organization has reported for tax purposes is honest and factual.