Posted on 02/08/2020 6:00:14 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
Last year, Eric Trump was asked about Secret Service protection at Trump Organization properties.
“If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free,” he said. “So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”
You will be stunned to learn this is not remotely true.
Instead, as the indefatigable David Fahrenthold and three colleagues at The Washington Post chronicle in his latest scoop on the president’s business, the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service (in other words, the taxpayer) between $400 and $650 per night to stay at Mar-a-Lago while guarding the president. At another Trump property, his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, the Secret Service was billed $17,000 per month for a small cottage, even when the president wasn’t present. These are just snapshots. Despite heroic public-records work by the Post, there’s still no complete picture of just what the Trump Organization is charging the Secret Service....
As the Post notes, other presidents who allowed the Secret Service to use their properties, including both George Bushes and Bill Clinton, didn’t charge them.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Clinton made them pay to build a residence on his property and then charged them rent.
I had to put up with 8 years of Obama dragging his mother in law around the world on the taxpayers back.
Dont care.
Since when is a lib a&&wipe concerned over what costs “the taxpayer”?!
It’s the grift.
I think it is some kind of law. Pretty sure all of them have charged ...including biden
Assume that everything that the Atlantic says is a lie and they threw in two or three irrelevant facts to make it seem legit. Throw another BS article in the trash where it belongs.
Funny. “Properties” makes the Trump branded commercial properties sound just like the homesteads for the others, doesn’t it?
Clinton did not allow free use, IIRC.
I am not a CPA but I understand going rates are charged but are not charged to the user. They need for accounting purposes to show the charge as a write-off. Perhaps some accounting person on FR can explain.
I’m sure it went something like this...
“You can use the property for free...”
“We’ve received direction from the GAO office that free rooms would represent some sort of conflict of interest. We have to pay rack rates.”
That this isn’t coming out in October means that they found out that there really is a piece of paper somewhere that explains the discrepancy between intention and what happens.
What?
I'll be "stunned to learn" that an administration spied on an opposition party using the tools of government, tried to set them up, paid for opposition research and spying with taxpayer dollars, raided houses, ruined reputations, threw people in jail, and spent tens of millions of dollars investigating what they knew was a sham, all perpetrated to cover up their own misdeeds, graft, and corruption?
Simple. Trump properties are corporate entities, not personal fiefdoms. They have personnel to pay and properties to maintain. They have to cover those costs to remain solvent.
No one seemed to care when Obama was renting mansions in Martha’s Vineyard and on the beaches of Hawaii with Secret Service in similar accommodations nearby.
Trump isn’t taking his salary. It’s petty to assume he’s trying to get rich on bed nights for Secret Service agents.
I read Jimmy Carter and the Clintons charged a huge amount to stay in guest houses on their property. So, let’s put this all in perspective.
Eric Trump said they didnt charge them.
OK....
So let’s consider.......perhaps falsified vouchers were submitted?
Payouts were promptly paid since housing is an expected expense.
If true, and that is a big if, I suspect some bureaucrat is pocketing the difference.
It may be that he Secret Service is not allowed to accept free accommodations. They have a budget for such things and if that money is not spent there may be issues in the future. Believe it or not, many agencies are very careful estimating costs for the upcoming fiscal years and if they end up with a surplus or deficit it causes problems (due to expiration of funds).
This story really needs more research to determine if it really is a story at all.
It is a standard arrangement that the Secret Service provide payment to homeowners for space used by the agency in such situations. The Clintons did not take it upon themselves to “charge the Secret Service rent.” The amount provided is based on a government formula, not set by the homeowner, and in the Clintons’ case this amount was $1,100. (Note that this figure was not chosen by the Clintons, and it was well short of their monthly mortgage payment.)
It"s standard journalistic practice to exclude exculpatory information if a Republican ox is being gored.
I don’t think Trump can forego even his salary but he takes it and then donates it to I think help maintain veterans graves.
That's not per person, that's for the entire SS detail. Sounds like a good deal to me.........
This probably includes room service and the minibar in high end rooms. And judging by history, the Secret Service has been known to party hard... lol
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