Documents released by congressional committees appear to show the former president taking advantage of security details inside and outside the office
The US Secret Service is required to pay as much as $1,185 a night to stay at a property belonging to former president Donald Trump, a congressional committee said on Monday as it released documents that appeared to show the former president profited from the breakdown of his protections in and out. office.
All told, the Secret Service, mandated by law to protect the president and his family, spent $1.4 million on Trump-owned properties in the US, according to records obtained by the Democratic-led House oversight committee as part of its investigation. Trump's conflict of interest.
"The exorbitant rates levied on the Secret Service and frequent agents staying at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former president's self-deal and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former president Trump's struggling business," committee chair, New York representative, said. Carolyn Maloney, said in a statement. The document contradicts statements by former president Eric Trump's son.
In 2019, he claimed the Secret Service charged "like, $50" for a hotel room. The following year, he said: “We provide rooms for a fee and can make more money by renting them out to members or guests.” According to the DPR committee, between January 2017 and September 2021 there were at least 40 cases where the government paid room fees above the normal rate. The charges could be up to three times the rate per diem, Maloney wrote in a letter to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle.
The committee produced documents in which agents staying for protective purposes on properties including the Trump International Hotel in Washington and the Mar-a-Lago in Florida repeatedly wrote "the rate per diem is not obtainable".
The committee began investigating potential ties between Trump's businesses and the president's activities in February 2020.
It said: "Secret Service production is incomplete and does not give the committee a full picture of its spending on Trump-owned properties."