Trump’s company charging his own Secret Service agents thousands to stay at Mar a Lago while they protect him

As usual, as soon as these reports were coming out, I started seeing republicans posting comments and memes about Trump donating his salary as president back to government agencies.

His salary is $400,000. That doesn’t include a $50,000 “expense allowance,” $100,000 for travel expenses or other entertainment allowances, according to Title 3 of the U.S. Code.

I wasn't able to find any references to his not using his expense allowance, or donating it. If I discover something one way or another, I'll update this.

Of course, the salary and expense amounts are small change to someone as rich as Trump.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-hotels-cost-per-night-secret-service-staff-charge-a9323631.html

Jonathan O'Connell, David A Fahrenthold, Carol D Leonnig, Josh Dawsey
Feb. 9, 2020

Donald Trump’s company charges the Secret Service for the rooms agents use while protecting him at his luxury properties – billing US taxpayers at rates as high as $650 (£500) per night, according to federal records and people who have seen receipts.

Those charges, compiled here for the first time, show the US president has an unprecedented – and largely hidden – business relationship with his own government.

When Mr Trump visits his clubs in Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, the service needs space to post guards and store equipment.

Mr Trump’s company says it charges only minimal fees. But Secret Service records do not show that.

At Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 (£500) rate dozens of times in 2017, and a different rate, $396.15 (£305) dozens more times in 2018, according to documents from Mr Trump’s visits.

And at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 (£13,000) a month to use a three-bedroom cottage on the property, an unusually high rent for homes in that area, according to receipts from 2017. Mr Trump’s company billed the government even for days when Mr Trump wasn’t there.

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The full extent of the Secret Service’s payments to Trump’s company is not known. The Secret Service has not listed them in public databases of federal spending, as is usually required for payments over $10,000 (£7,700).

Instead, documents have come out piecemeal, through public records requests from news organisations and watchdog groups. The Washington Post compiled available records and found 103 payments from the Secret Service to Mr Trump’s company dated between January 2017 and April 2018.

The records show more than $471,000 (£364,000) in payments from taxpayers to Mr Trump’s companies. But – because these records cover only a fraction of Mr cTrump’s travel during a fraction of his term – the actual total is likely to be higher.

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The Secret Service is required to tell Congress twice a year about what it spends to protect President Trump at his properties.

But since 2016, it has only filed two of the required six reports, according to congressional offices. The reasons, according to Secret Service officials: key personnel left and nobody picked up the job.

Even in those two reports, the lines for Bedminster and Mar-a-Lago were blank.

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