![]() ![]() In our universe, though, the expense came out of the federal government’s budget, de facto subsidized by the American taxpayer. The charge, which, according to The Washington Post, went mainly toward covering the costs of hotel rooms for the Secret Service members and embassy staff who accompanied Eric, may never have been incurred in the first place, as the need for a security detail would not have been nearly as high for a private citizen as for the son of the president. In an alternate universe in which Donald Trump did not become president, Eric’s trip is on the Trump Organization’s dime. Not only that, it’s yet another reminder of the president’s refusal to divest from his businesses, a situation that continues to create a multitude of conflicts of interest. The problem is that the $97,830 charge was for all intents and purposes a business expense, one of what will likely be many instances of the federal government paying to effectively subsidize the Trump Organization. It’s not even that the Trumps will likely take international trips on their own fairly frequently compared to previous first children. It’s not just about the cost of the trip, or the partisan hypocrisy at play given his father’s vociferous condemnation of his predecessor using taxpayer money for vacations. The response is typically a textbook case of partisanship at work: The opposition party and its affiliated media outlets vociferously object to this use of taxpayer money the president’s supporters respond with classic whataboutism, wondering where all this outrage was when the last guy did the same.īut Eric Trump’s trip is different. That Eric Trump left the country is not unusual every first family has taken vacations while in office, although President Trump is the first in a generation whose children are old enough to jet-set on their own. According to The Washington Post, the bill for the trip-or at least, the amount of taxpayer dollars spent-totaled $97,830. To provide security for the trip, Eric Trump took along with him a retinue of Secret Service agents, as is customary for members of the first family traveling abroad with or without the president. While he was there, Eric visited the unfinished Trump Tower in the resort town of Punta del Este, snapping pictures of the property with which to commemorate the visit on Twitter. The GAO estimated in 2016 that a four-day trip by President Barack Obama to Chicago and Palm Beach in 2013 cost taxpayers about $3.6 million.In early January, President Donald Trump’s son Eric flew to Uruguay for a business trip. The White House Counsel’s Office didn’t respond to requests for information that the GAO sent in April 2017 and January 2018, according to the report. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The government also spent nearly $400,000 protecting the president’s two older sons during three international trips they took in early 2018, the office found. The Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Secret Service, reported $5.1 million in similar expenses. The Department of Defense’s costs for the Mar-a-Lago trips totaled nearly $8.5 million for a range of expenses including government and commercial airfare, the use of government-owned boats, equipment rentals, meals and hotel rooms, according to the report. The totals include operating costs for aircraft and boats and temporary duty costs such as transportation, meals, lodging and incidental expenses, according to the report. The salaries and benefits would be paid regardless of their duties on those days, the GAO said. The GAO noted in its report that it didn’t include some expenses that are classified nor did it include salaries or benefits, including overtime, for Secret Service and Defense Department personnel or other government employees traveling with the president. Trump was at the Mar-a-Lago resort for portions of 14 days during the period the GAO examined from Feb. The federal government’s costs for the four trips included $60,000 paid directly to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released the day of the president’s annual State of the Union address. (Bloomberg) - Four of President Donald Trump’s trips to his Florida home in 2017 cost taxpayers about $13.6 million, amounting to nearly $1 million a day, the U.S.
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