Listen i do not blame him ........it's business........ why would they expect a deal .......he is a hotel owner........ why not........... if you can get it .....why would the secret service be entitled to a deal anyways .........he is just running a business ..........
Trump Made Secret Service Pay 'Exorbitant Rates' At His Hotels, Documents Show
Donald Trump repeatedly charged the Secret Service for rooms at his hotels that sometimes cost more than $1,000 a night, significantly surpassing the government’s budget for such spending and contradicting his previous claims, according to documents the House Oversight Committee released Monday.
The documents, which were released as part of the committee’s yearslong investigation into the former president’s conflicts of interest while in office, reveal that Trump-owned properties racked up a small fortune during Trump’s frequent trips to his many hotels from the time he took office through September of last year. The Secret Service was forced to make more than $1.4 million in total payments to those properties so agents could accompany Trump and his family on those trips.
“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,” Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
The U.S. government’s per diem at the time was under $250 a night ― an amount based on average daily lodging rates in a location at any given time of year.
The committee says Trump charged the Secret Service above the government’s per diem rate on at least 40 occasions, including some nightly rates as high as $1,185 ― more than five times the government rate. On one occasion in 2017, Trump’s business charged the Secret Service $1,160 a night for a room to protect his son, Eric Trump, while he promoted a golf tournament at one of his father’s properties in Washington, D.C.
Agents were charged those rates in spite of Trump Organization claims that federal employees traveling with the then-president and his family would stay “for free” or “at cost” on the properties he owned.
Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, even boasted in 2019 that this arrangement “saves a fortune because if [Secret Service agents] were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”
Donald Trump’s tendency to repeatedly return to certain properties, especially his Mar-a-Lago resort, also complicated matters, the committee said in a letter to the Secret Service on Monday.
“The former President’s stays at certain properties were so frequent, they required the Secret Service to establish a more enduring presence,” members wrote.
When reached for comment, Eric Trump said any services rendered to the Secret Service at Trump Organization properties “were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free.”
“The company would have been substantially better off if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests, however, the company did whatever it took to accommodate the agencies to ensure they were able to do their jobs at the highest levels ― they are amazing men and women,” he added.
The $1.4 million total in Secret Service payments to Trump properties is a conservative estimate, the committee said Monday, since the documents it gathered do not include spending at overseas Trump properties and do not date past September 2021, even though agents are still providing security to Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The committee is now asking the Secret Service for more transparency on spending at Trump properties as it continues its investigation.
“The materials the Secret Service has provided raise significant concerns about the agency’s spending at Trump-owned properties, including exorbitant rates, incomplete documentation, and invoices that do not appear to match agency financial records,” the committee’s letter to the agency said.
When reached for comment, Secret Service spokesperson Special Agent Steve Kopek confirmed it had received the letter and said the agency “will respond directly to the committee with the requested information.”
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