A new report shows that Donald Trump massively overcharged the Secret Service (and therefore US taxpayers) for rooms at his hotel in Washington, DC.
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Maybe the Secret Service would have more money for protecting people if Donald Trump had not drained its coffers by overcharging agents for staying at his properties.
That is one of the possible takeaways one can deduce from a new report that shows how the then-president bilked taxpayers at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, over the span of a year.
It was put together by the Democrats of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and is based on documents that Trump’s company tried to hide but was eventually forced to make available following litigation.
The report details how the former president, at just one of his properties, enriched himself in a manner that is, at best, unethical and, at worst, unlawful and unconstitutional.
For example, on one night in November of 2017, the Secret Service was charged $1,185 each for two rooms (the allowed per diem was $201) while the hotel on that day charged more than 200 other guests $125-170.
This stands in sharp contrast to statements from Eric Trump, who has suggested in the past that the former president’s federal entourage would “stay at our properties for free.” He later claimed that Secret Service agents were staying at Trump properties “at cost,” and that the family “could make far more money renting them to members or guests.”
While only a fool would believe a Trump, the new report shows just how big of a lie that was.
It is noteworthy that the document is based on only one property and 11 months’ worth of records.
“While this is an exceedingly small window into the opaque web of more than 500 corporations, limited liability companies, and trusts that Donald Trump carried with him into the presidency, it is enough to reveal hundreds of unconstitutional and ethically suspect payments he accepted while in office from domestic sources — including a federal agency, numerous federal and state officials, and individuals who sought, and frequently obtained, federal offices as well as presidential pardons from him,” the report states.
Overall, the cumulative total of these payments is “just” $300,000.
“What is shocking is not the size of these payments but the fact that even the narrowest of windows into President Trump’s business dealings — just 11 months at one hotel — reveals a menagerie of unethical transactions, including flat-out violations of the Constitution,” the report states.
If you are wondering why Congress did not receive more records after winning a lawsuit compelling their release, the answer is that, when Republicans gained the House majority, new committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) put a stop to their production.
Instead of pursuing an apparently corrupt scheme, he instead decided that the panel’s resources would be better spent on pursuing “the Biden crime family.” Although, come to think of it, that investigation has not amounted to anything, and we haven’t heard much about it since President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for reelection.
