Trump hotel overcharged Secret Service, report by House Democrats finds
The authors of the report, which is based on Trump International Hotel room records from September 2017 and August 2018, argue that Trump violated the Constitution’s foreign and domestic emoluments clauses, which were designed to prevent the president and other federal officials from enriching themselves at taxpayer expense.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump hotel overcharged Secret Service, report by House Democrats finds
Trump’s D.C. hotel charged the Secret Service more than normal government rates — and sometimes charged the agency more than it did other patrons, House Democrats found.
By Jacqueline Alemany
October 18, 2024 at 10:42 a.m. EDT
During Donald Trump’s presidency, his D.C. hotel charged the U.S. Secret Service 300 percent or more above standard government rates on multiple occasions, and at times charged the government agency more than it did other patrons — including a Chinese business and members of a foreign royal family, according to a new report released Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The authors of the report, which is based on Trump International Hotel room records from September 2017 and August 2018, argue that Trump violated the Constitution’s foreign and domestic emoluments clauses, which were designed to prevent the president and other federal officials from enriching themselves at taxpayer expense.
The House Democrats’ report cites several previously undisclosed instances in which Trump International Hotel charged the Secret Service rates that were not only above the normal government per diem rate but above rates it charged other patrons. The report is based on records Democrats obtained from Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars USA, along with corresponding special waivers authorizing the Secret Service to make payments above normal government rates.
When Eric Trump visited the hotel on Feb. 22, 2018, two of the rooms the Secret Service rented were charged at $895 each, 450 percent more than the government rate, according to the report. The same evening, more than 100 rooms at the 263-room hotel were rented out at rates lower than $895, “including at least one room rented out for just $150,” the Democrats found.
That night, four rooms for a “Sheikh Al Thani Family Extended Stay” were charged at rates far less than what the Secret Service was charged, according to the report. The Al Thanis, who are a Qatari royal family, were charged $280 for three rooms and $490 for one room.
The Democratic report did not reveal the total number of rooms rented by the Secret Service, which is considered sensitive law enforcement information. Spokespeople for the Secret Service, the Trump campaign and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During another visit by Eric Trump to the D.C. hotel at the end of the month, on Feb. 27, 2018, the agency paid for a $595 room, according to the report. That rate is far above the government-approved nightly rate for a hotel in D.C., which is usually $195 to $240, and varies from month to month based on average lodging rates in the city. That same evening, two rooms were charged to the Al Thani family at rates of less than $595.
The Washington Post has extensively reported on expenses the Secret Service incurred at Trump properties while agents were protecting him and his family during his time in the White House.
In 2022, The Post reported that U.S. taxpayers paid Trump’s business at least $1.4 million for Secret Service agents’ stays at Trump properties for his and his family’s protection. Receipts and invoices previously obtained by The Post have highlighted not just high charges for rooms at the luxury properties but additional fees, including a $1,300 “furniture removal charge” to the Secret Service in 2018 at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland.
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One would think someone cares so much about government spending would have spent the night at the White House with his father or else found a cheaper hotel .
The Grift is real...
Grifters gonna grift.
The Office of Government Ethics was basically ignored under Trump and the corrupt fraudster used the presidency for personal gain over and over again.
His cult of useful idiots didn't care then, and still doesn't.
Entirely expected.