Trump's club charged Secret Service agents $500 a night for rentals even when it was closed for the pandemic
Taxpayers' bills for Trump Organization properties have surpassed $1.1 million, The Washington Post reports.
As the Post has consistently reported via Secret Service bills, President Trump and his administration have repeatedly funneled government money to the family's properties throughout his term. That has included above-market rates for rentals that ensured Secret Service agents stayed close to Trump and, most recently, payments to one club that was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Post's David Fahrenthold reports via the latest round of receipts and invoices.
The coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the service industry this spring, including the Trump Organization's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. But while the club was closed, it still charged the Secret Service more than $21,800 to stay on the property, the Post reports. That included $567-a-night charges for a three-bedroom cottage close to Trump's villa — an "unusually high for a rental home in the area," the Post writes. The invoices also detailed charges for one or two additional rooms, at $142 to $283 per night. Trump didn't visit the club during the pandemic, but his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump did, The New York Times reported at the time.
The newly obtained invoices also revealed that Trump's Turnberry resort in Scotland "once charged the Secret Service $1,300 to move furniture," and that the Trump Organization tacked on "resort fees" when agents were guarding Vice President Mike Pence in Las Vegas. Read more at The Washington Post.
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