Current Events > House inquiry: Trump was charging secret service exorbitant rates at his hotels

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/us/politics/trump-hotels-secret-service.html

WASHINGTON The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service up to $1,185 per night for hotel rooms used by agents protecting former President Donald J. Trump and his family, according to documents released on Monday by the House Oversight Committee, forcing a federal agency to pay well above government rates.

The committee released Secret Service records showing more than $1.4 million in payments by the department to Trump properties since Mr. Trump took office in 2017. The committee said that the accounting was incomplete, however, because it did not include payments to Mr. Trumps foreign properties where agents accompanied his family repeatedly and because the records stopped in September 2021.

The records the panel managed to obtain provided new details about an arrangement in which Mr. Trump and his family effectively turned the Secret Service into a captive customer of their business by visiting their properties hundreds of times, and then charging the government rates far above its usual spending limits for their protectors to follow.
The records also make clear that Mr. Trumps son Eric who ran the family business while his father was in office provided a misleading account of what his company was charging.
In 2019, Eric Trump said the Trump Organization charged the government only like $50 for hotel rooms during presidential visits.

Instead, records obtained by the committee showed, the Trump International Hotel in Washington repeatedly charged the Secret Service rates more than $600 per night. In one case, the hotel charged the Secret Service $1,160 a night for a room used while protecting Eric Trump in 2017. That was more than four times higher than the governments usual spending limit for Washington hotels but Secret Service officials approved, the records show.

The same year, the records showed, Mr. Trumps hotel in Washington charged the service $1,185 for a room used while guarding Donald Trump Jr.

Per diem rates could not be obtained, a Secret Service record said, referring to the governments official maximum rate. By law, the department is allowed to exceed those maximum payments when its protective mission requires.

Previously, the highest rate that the Trump Organization was known to have charged the government for a hotel room was $650 per night, for rooms at Mr. Trumps Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

pretty sure we all knew this but it's nice to have confirmation

In one case, the hotel charged the Secret Service $1,160 a night for a room used while protecting Eric Trump in 2017. That was more than four times higher than the governments usual spending limit for Washington hotels but Secret Service officials approved, the records show.

they really only put Secret Service agents in $200-250 hotel rooms usually? I can't imagine those are very good in DC

thronedfire2 posted...

but Secret Service officials approved

Dis is what will save trump isn't it

Sure is nice that taxpayers can be involuntarily forced to donate money to Trump.

This was pointed out on like week 2 of his presidency I thought.

Yeah I thought this was pretty much already completely common knowledge but it's one of those things that's simply fucked up on a normal scale and so got overwritten by various Trump scandals that were even more fucked up

dummy420 posted...

This was pointed out on like week 2 of his presidency I thought.

It was. We just didn't have confirmation through a congressional inquiry, though.

dummy420 posted...

This was pointed out on like week 2 of his presidency I thought.

it was very common knowledge yes

CableZL posted...

Trump and his family effectively turned the Secret Service into a captive customer of their business by visiting their properties hundreds of times, and then charging the government rates far above its usual spending limits for their protectors to follow.
The records also make clear that Mr. Trumps son Eric who ran the family business while his father was in office provided a misleading account of what his company was charging.

This is the most donald trump thing I've read since the time I read some donald trump things.

dummy420 posted...

This was pointed out on like week 2 of his presidency I thought.

CableZL posted...

It was. We just didn't have confirmation through a congressional inquiry, though.

Yeah, pretty much. Was one of the very first things brought up, about how he is funneling tax payer money into his pockets via this. Then we got that super sweet press conference with the table full of empty folders with Donnie telling us he divested his interests, scouts honor!

But we now have the actual proof of it instead of the cookie crumbs on his shirt and chocolate smeared on his face.

And if you didn't already think he was a POS, here you go.

This is tabloid bullshit

Let me know when they get to the stuff that will certifiably get him guillotined

El_Marsh posted...

This is tabloid bullshit

Let me know when they get to the stuff that will certifiably get him guillotined

A house inquiry isn't "tabloid bullshit."

CableZL posted...

A house inquiry isn't "tabloid bullshit."

House inquiry, 1997: "so what's up with that fuckin' batboy"

CableZL posted...

A house inquiry isn't "tabloid bullshit."

Oh, it's very tabloid

hint: I'm not talking about the supermarket trash when I use that word

El_Marsh posted...

Oh, it's very tabloid

hint: I'm not talking about the supermarket trash when I use that word

It's not tabloid at all, and your reluctance to even define what you're talking about says this line of discussion isn't worth continuing. This is a congressional inquiry that confirms Trump was funneling tax payer dollars into his own pockets at exorbitant rates. That isn't "tabloid bullshit."

Move on.

El_Marsh posted...

Oh, it's very tabloid

hint: I'm not talking about the supermarket trash when I use that word

you're acting extremely donaldish right now bro

More evidence that Trump is a scum bag who looks out only for himself to the detriment of the nation and the response is tabloid bullshit.

Its no wonder the US is the way it is.

El_Marsh posted...

Oh, it's very tabloid

hint: I'm not talking about the supermarket trash when I use that word

why are you being so defensive, this was among the funnier things he did

Why doesnt this surprise me

Someone congratulate the House for finally figuring out what the New York Times already told us over 6 years ago.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Someone congratulate the House for finally figuring out what the New York Times already told us over 6 years ago.

i never heard this before today but i dont live in ny so i dont read The NY Times

thx1138 posted...

i never heard this before today but i dont live in ny so i dont read The NY Times

Shit like this was all over the news. At one point he even had an Air Force flight divert from its path in Europe so the personnel would be forced to stay at his resort in Scotland.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/air-force-trump-scottish-retreat-1484337