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Since leaving office, Trump has charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 to use space at Mar-a-Lago

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Former president Donald Trump charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 this spring for rooms that Trump’s own protective detail used while guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago Club, according to federal spending records.

The records show that Trump’s club charged the Secret Service $396.15 every night starting Jan. 20, the day he left the White House and moved full-time into his Palm Beach, Fla., club.
Receipts: Charges to Secret Service from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club
Those charges, ultimately paid by taxpayers, continued until at least April 30, the spending records show, for a total of $40,011.15. The charges were for a single room used as a workspace by Secret Service agents, according to one person familiar with the payments.









Secret Service pays rates as high as $650 a night for rooms at Trump’s properties, documents show








New documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the rates the Secret Service paid at President Trump's properties. (Zach Purser Brown/The Washington Post)
The Secret Service released spending records up to April 30. Trump stayed at Mar-a-Lago more than a week beyond that before moving to his Bedminster, N.J., club for the summer. It was unclear whether he continued to charge the Secret Service into May.


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Records documenting the charges were released by the Secret Service in response to a public-records request from The Washington Post. They are the first evidence that Trump has continued a controversial and lucrative practice — charging rent to his own protectors — into his post-presidency.
While he was president, Trump’s properties charged the U.S. government more than $2.5 million, often so that Secret Service agents could use rooms near him.

The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s post-presidential office and the Secret Service both declined to comment.
The rate Trump billed the Secret Service at his Florida resort is the same as the $396.15-per-room rate he charged as president.
Agents this spring rented fewer rooms at a time than they had when Trump visited Mar-a-Lago as president; back then, records show, they rented four or five rooms at the club for every night Trump was there. But costs for the single room in recent months added up because Trump was at Mar-a-Lago every night, not just on weekends and vacations. The end result: The Secret Service paid Mar-a-Lago nearly as much in the spring of 2021 as it had during comparable periods in 2018 or 2019.



Trump’s decision to charge the Secret Service rent appears unusual — both for a sitting president and now for a former one.
Former presidents get Secret Service protection for life. But last year The Washington Post spoke to historians and representatives for recent presidents and could not find another example of a president charging the Secret Service rent on this scale.
The closest parallel to Trump was the man who succeeded him: Joe Biden. While he was protected as vice president, Biden charged the Secret Service $2,200 per month to use a cottage on his property in Delaware. In total, Biden received $171,600 between 2011 and 2017.
Biden has not charged the Secret Service rent since becoming president in January, a White House spokesman said.

Historians said they were surprised Trump was still charging the Secret Service, considering that ex-presidents are entitled to an array of other taxpayer-funded benefits, including paid staff and a $219,000-per-year pension.

 
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