Snakes crawl at night and the trumps too
Oct. 12, 2020 at 10:53 a.m. EDT
Eric Trump took his Secret Service agents to Trump golf courses in Scotland, as he led transatlantic tours for paying customers. Donald Trump Jr. took his protectors to the Trump hotel in Vancouver, stopping over on hunting trips to Canada.
And Ivanka Trump took her Secret Service detail to the Trump golf club in Bedminster, N.J., again and again — even after she asked other Americans to “please, please” stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.
On trips like these, Secret Service agents were there to protect Trump’s children. But, for the Trump family business, their visits also brought a hidden side benefit.
Money.
That’s because when Trump’s adult children visited Trump properties, Trump’s company charged the Secret Service for agents to come along. The president’s company billed the U.S. government hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for rooms agents used on each trip, as the agency sometimes booked multiple rooms or a multiroom rental cottage on the property
Ivanka Trump, left, daughter and adviser to President Trump, speaks to business owners as she tours American Way Antiques Sunday in Chandler, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)
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In this way, Trump’s adult children and their families have caused the U.S. government to spend at least $238,000 at Trump properties so far, according to Secret Service records obtained by The Washington Post.
Government ethics experts say that nothing is wrong with Trump’s children seeking protection from the Secret Service.
But, they said, the Trump Organization’s decision to charge for the agents’ rooms created a situation in which — just by traveling — Trump’s children could bring taxpayer money to their family’s business.
Eric Trump speaks at a campaign rally for his father Sept. 17. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)
That, ethics experts said, could create the appearance that Trump family members were exploiting their publicly funded protection for private financial gain.
“Morally speaking, do they want to profit [from the fact] that their father’s in the White House?” said Scott Amey, of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. “They could very easily reimburse those expenses, so the federal government and the taxpayer are not on the hook for that tab.”