Continuing a troubling trend from President Trump’s first administration, the Secret Service spent nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money at Trump properties in the first months of his second term, according to records obtained by CREW through a Freedom of Information Act request. The records also show that this spending-largely for visits on which Trump almost always plays golf at properties he owns and profits from-makes up about 1 in every 10 dollars the Secret Service has spent protecting Trump and his family at his businesses and when they are on vacation or engaging in other unofficial leisure activities. 

In this time of heightened political violence, it is imperative that the Secret Service provides President Trump and his family the best protection possible. Protecting the president is always a good use of taxpayer funds. That protection, however, is not meant to be a way to channel taxpayer funds into the president’s bank account. 

Much of Trump and his family’s travel has been to promote Trump Organization properties. Trump has already made 129 visits to his properties this term, according to tracking by CREW. The most significant source of expenses appears to be at Trump National Doral, where the Secret Service appears to have paid more than $50,000. The vendor on the February 19 expenditure is listed as “TDR-LOD” on the same day that President Trump visited his Trump Doral resort in Miami. 

The payments detailed in the new records show a $14,000 payment to Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, a $23,000 payment to his Doral golf resort, and more. An additional payment in Las Vegas to a vendor listed as “TI FRONT DESK” amounting to more than $67,000 is not counted here, because while “TI” could stand for Trump’s Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, it could also stand for the Treasure Island hotel nearby. Other records, however, that don’t explicitly list the name of a Trump business are included because of their location and the timing of the spending. For example, a $1,625 expense to “TWES-RET” was located in Briarcliff Manor, NY, where the Trump National Golf Club Westchester is located. Lara Trump was listed as the protectee on the report, and a TikTok video posted during the time covered by the payment appears to show Lara Trump at the Westchester airport 25 minutes from the property. 

The current totals directed to Trump businesses could seem small, but they add up fast. During President Trump’s first term, the Secret Service spent nearly $2 million at Trump properties, sometimes spending more than government rate limits to stay at his properties, an infusion of taxpayer money that was hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what he would have earned if he had kept the presidential salary that he claimed he donated to charity. That total doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands spent by other agencies, like the Department of Defense, at his businesses. 

Eric Trump infamously claimed in 2019 that the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service “like $50” when traveling to protect the president. Records from the time showed this was far from the truth, and the Trump Organization charged rates as high as $17,000 per month for a cottage at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and tacked on superfluous “furniture removal charges” to bills. Nothing is stopping the Trump Organization from comping the Secret Service’s rooms, which they originally claimed to be doing.

The spending at Trump’s own properties accounts for a significant portion of the amount the Secret Service spent to protect Trump and his family during their leisure time. All presidents and their families take vacations. However, President Trump is unique in that he and his family choose to frequent resorts and golf courses they own when they go on vacation, and the Trump Organization, in turn, charges taxpayers for the costs associated with those visits.

In all this term, the records document nearly $1 million spent protecting Trump and his family members at Trump properties and entertainment events and on vacation, with payments to Trump properties making up around 10% of that total. 

This spending is likely just the tip of the iceberg. There are no records from Eric or Don Jr.’s foreign travel, which is tied to some of the Trump family’s most concerning business deals. Since January, Trump’s sons and business partners have traveled around the globe expanding the family real estate and cryptocurrency empire. This past spring, Don Jr. embarked on a “Trump Business Vision 2025” speaking tour across Eastern Europe while Eric was busy pushing the family’s real estate and crypto ties in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and around the Middle East. None of these trips appeared on the Secret Service records. While presidential families absolutely deserve Secret Service protection, taxpayers likewise deserve transparency on the costs of presidential family travel, particularly when it benefits the president’s bottom line.

CREW’s total also only includes payments for hotels and lodging, though the records include some rental car expenses that are harder to tie to specific trips. The costs associated with nearly all known international travel is missing from this data.

Photo of Mar-a-lago by formulanone under Creative Commons license; Screenshot of Mar-a-lago by Google Earth

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