Oct. 17 (UPI) — Under former president Donald Trump, U.S. Secret Service agents were billed as much as $1,185 per room while staying at hotels under the Trump name, according to the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Documents released by the committee as part of its ongoing investigation into Trump’s potential conflicts of interest show Trump-owned properties charged the agency rates “far in excess” of government per diem rates during his presidency.
The committee’s revelations fly in the face of claims Trump made at the outset of his presidency that his business connections would save the government money.
Records show more than $1.4 million in Secret Service spending at Trump-owned properties in the United States over the length of the Trump presidency, “but that data appears to be incomplete,” the committee said in a statement Monday.
The Secret Service received at least 40 waivers over that time period allowing it to spend up to and above the per diem rate limits. Those requests related to Trump as both a president and former president, as well as protecting those close to him.
Committee chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said she requested a full audit of the Secret Service’s finances almost two years ago.
“However, the Secret Service’s productions have been incomplete and do not provide the committee with a complete picture of its spending at Trump-owned properties,” the committee said in its statement.
“The Secret Service has yet to provide the committee with a complete list of all spending at Trump-owned properties and still does not appear to be able to account for every instance the agency paid excessive nightly rates at the former President’s resorts, hotels, and clubs.”
Maloney said Trump duped taxpayers into footing an unreasonable bill.
“The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump’s struggling businesses,” Maloney said in a statement.
In a statement on behalf of the Trump Organization, son Eric Trump defended the spending.
“Any services rendered to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies” at Trump properties “were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free,” he said Monday.
