Trump's company paid at least $2.5M by federal government: report

Source: The Hill | October 27, 2020 | Celine Castronuovo

The Trump Organization has reportedly received at least $2.5 million in taxpayer money from the federal government, most of which resulted from trips by President Trump to his company properties, according to federal spending records obtained by The Washington Post

The Post reported that Trump has paid visits to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and his resorts in Scotland and Ireland a total of more than 280 times since taking office in 2017, resulting in millions of dollars in charges. 

The report comes as part of a larger investigation into how Trump’s businesses have financially benefited from his presidency, despite the president’s promise during his 2016 campaign that he would “completely isolate” himself from his business once in the White House. 

“If I win, I may never see my property — I may never see these places again,” Trump said on the campaign trail in 2016. “Because I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me.”

In its report published Tuesday, the Post detailed some of the charges Trump’s properties have requested from the federal government. They include $7,000 for a 30-person dinner Trump hosted at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017 during a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping; $6,000 for floral arrangements at Trump’s April 2018 Mar-a-Lago summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; and $17,000 a month from May to November each year for the Secret Service’s use of a cottage at Trump’s Bedminster club.

State Department records also reportedly show that during Xi’s visit, White House staffers asked the bartender to leave a Mar-a-Lago bar and served themselves, “so they could speak confidentially,” the club’s catering director later told the State Department.

The drink bill from the night totaled to $1,000, which included 54 drinks of tequila, vodka and bourbon at $15 or $16 each, plus service charge.

The Post noted that one of the smallest charges for which one of Trump’s businesses asked to receive taxpayer reimbursement was a $3 glass of water from Trump and Abe’s meeting at Mar-a-Lago. 

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