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Trump’s businesses charged Secret Service more than $1.1 million, says report

WION Web Team
Washington, DC, United States of AmericaUpdated: Sep 18, 2020, 12:33 PM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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This expenditure includes room rentals at his Bedminster, NJ, club this spring even while it was closed for the coronavirus pandemic.

US President Donald Trump’s luxury properties have charged the American government more than $1.1 million in private transactions since he took office, new documents show. 

This expenditure includes room rentals at his Bedminster, NJ, club this spring even while it was closed for the coronavirus pandemic.

The Washington Post filed a public-records lawsuit after which the documents, including receipts and invoices from Trump’s businesses, were released by the Secret Service. They added $188,000 in previously unknown charges to The Post’s running total of payments to Trump’s properties related to the presence of Secret Service agents.

In Bedminster this spring, Trump's club rented a cottage and charged the Secret Service more than $21,800 while the club was closed and otherwise off-limits to guests. Trump didn’t visit the club while it was closed, but his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her family reportedly visited at least once.

The bills are usually paid in private, with no public disclosure. The government has not disclosed how much it has paid the Trump Organisation in total.

Ever since he assumed power, Trump has visited his properties 274 times, according to a Post tally, in addition to promoting those properties on Twitter, encouraging his vice president visit them and briefly choosing one of them to host a summit of world leaders

The Secret Service paid rent in Bedminster for more than 200 days when Trump was not there. The documents, however, do not say why the Secret Service needed rooms in Bedminster for so many nights — or why, on some nights, it needed more than usual. The documents also don’t give a reason for these rentals.

The Post has documented a similar dynamic at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida: Trump’s travel choices led agents to rent rooms for weeks in advance, in case the president decided to visit.