Secret Service paid millions above market rates at Trump properties

Between January 2017 and September 2021, House Oversight Committee records show the Secret Service made hundreds of payments to Trump-owned properties that totaled at least $1.4 million, a figure the committee said may be incomplete and asked the agency to fully account for. citeturn10search0turn1search2

In a letter and accompanying documents released by House Democrats, committee investigators reported that the Secret Service made roughly 669 separate expenditures at Trump properties during that period, a detail cited in media coverage of the committee’s findings. citeturn9search11turn10search0

Secret Service ledgers obtained by Congress show individual nights were sometimes billed at extraordinarily high rates — as much as $1,185 per room — including a November 8, 2017 charge to lodge agents protecting Donald Trump Jr., far above the government per diem for that date. citeturn0search1turn4search3

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) analyzed Secret Service records and found roughly $1.75 million in payments to Trump businesses, and said the full total of agency spending at Trump properties was likely closer to $2 million once incomplete and overseas records are counted. citeturn8view0turn0search3

CREW’s review and related reporting show President Trump visited his own properties hundreds of times while in office — CREW described this as nearly 550 visits overall and counted about 146 trips to Mar‑a‑Lago — moves that repeatedly required taxpayer‑funded Secret Service protection. citeturn8view0turn1search0

House documents show the Secret Service obtained at least 40 waivers that allowed the agency to exceed GSA per‑diem limits to stay at Trump properties, meaning supervisors approved higher nightly rates on numerous occasions. citeturn0search1turn1search2

Reporting by The Washington Post and others noted that recent presidents before Trump typically did not charge the Secret Service to use private residences — spokespeople for George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush said their properties were available to agents without a hotel‑style fee — and described Trump’s practice as a break with that precedent. citeturn6search0turn6search2

Members of the Trump Organization publicly insisted Secret Service rooms were provided “at cost” or “for free,” but contemporaneous invoices and congressional records show multiple instances of rates far higher than those claims, undermining the company’s public statements. citeturn2search0turn2search4

Invoices released to investigators include unusually itemized charges: for example, when President Trump visited his Turnberry resort in Scotland in 2018 the property billed the Secret Service a $1,300 “furniture removal” fee in addition to room charges. citeturn3search0turn3search7

House Democrats said the pattern amounted to extracting taxpayer dollars in ways that enriched the former president’s businesses, with Rep. Jamie Raskin summing up the allegation by saying Trump used the Secret Service as a “personal government ATM.” citeturn14search0turn10search0

The committee’s comparisons of guest logs also identified nights when Secret Service rates were substantially higher than what other guests paid — for example, on November 28, 2017 several rooms billed to the Secret Service were $600 apiece while a dozen rooms that same night were rented to a Chinese company for about $338.85 — a contrast investigators highlighted in arguing the billing raised ethical and legal questions. citeturn4search0turn4search3

Separately, oversight documents and media reporting found that the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which received Secret Service and other government business, still lost more than $70 million during its years under Trump’s lease despite receiving millions in bookings, a point Democrats used to question the financial disclosures and claimed profits. citeturn13search6turn13search5