Trump Organization charged Secret Service 'exorbitant rates' of up to $1,185-per night and over $1.4 million total, according to House Oversight Committee
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
- A top House Democrat says the Trump Organization massively overcharged the Secret Service.
- Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney wrote to the agency's director to request more information on money spent at Trump properties.
- Maloney said the committee found that the Secret Service spent more than $1.4 million at properties owened by the former president.
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.
Maloney cited one instance where the Secret Service spent as much as $1,185-per room at the now-defunct Trump International Hotel in Washington. There are government regulations about spending on lodging, requirements that the Democrat suggests were clearly ignored.
"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," Maloney wrote in a letter to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle.
Maloney said that her panel found evidence of at least 40 different occasions where the Secret Service was charged in excess of the government rate. The New York Democrat said this occurred despite Eric Trump, who the president left in charge of his namesake company along with Donald Trump Jr., claiming that government employees who traveled with the then-president "stay at our properties for free."
Eric Trump, in response to the news, claimed that the company would have been "substantially better off if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests.
"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," Eric Trump said in a statement released by the company that also attacked former President Barack Obama. "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. "
Democrats repeatedly assailed Trump's private business during his time in office and raised questions about whether its continuing existence ran afoul of the Consitution. Trump rarely golfed let alone stayed away from one of his properties. He spent significant time at his resort in Bedminister, New Jersey, and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. At one point, Trump considered hosting the G-7 Summit, a major gathering of world leaders, at his Doral golf resort before bipartisan criticism forced him to reverse.
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Washington Post first reported the news of Maloney's probe.
Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/yNPC6bA
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Tuesday, October 18, 2022
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