The federal government spent $1,092 for an official to stay at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for two nights in March, according to documents released Friday by an advocacy group and confirmed by the Washington Post.
The documents released from the U.S. Coast Guard through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the advocacy group, Property of the People, show that a government charge card was used to pay for a two-night stay at Mar-a-Lago, at $546 per night. The receipt shows the government paid the “rack rate,” the standard rate a hotel would charge without any discount, on March 3-4.
The documents do not reveal exactly who the hotel room was for, but the National Security Council is named at the top of the page.
The record was released as part of a larger request from Property for the People to the Coast Guard, which provides security at the waterfront property. In a letter accompanying the receipt, the Coast Guard explained that the transactions were discovered when they searched the government travel charge card database.
Trump often travels to his properties as an alternative to the White House, mainly to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump has come under scrutiny for the costs taxpayers incur from those visits, and the fact that his businesses could profit from his travel there.
Democrats in Congress have asked all federal agencies to share documentation showing taxpayer money spent at Trump properties. They’ve also called on the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general to look into how much money the Secret Service spends protecting Trump at several of his properties.
The documents released Friday show that the government has paid for officials to stay at Trump’s properties, rather than directing staffers to a less expensive alternative. It’s not clear from the documents whether the Mar-a-Lago charge was a one-time occurrence, or if taxpayers are regularly paying for administration officials to stay at Trump properties.
Trump stayed at Mar-a-Lago on March 3 and 4. On his second day there, he dined with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and received a national security briefing, according to White House guidance sent out at the time. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, John Kelly, Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller were also at Mar-a-Lago with Trump that weekend, according to the Washington Post.
View the documents obtained by Property of the People below:
