Politics
Trump overcharged Secret Service to stay at his hotel during presidency, House Democrats say
By
Scott MacFarlane
October 18, 2024 / 11:30 AM EDT / CBS News
Washington — In a
report released Friday morning, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee allege that newly obtained records show then-President Donald Trump overcharged the U.S. Secret Service for rooms at his former hotel in Washington, D.C., during his presidency.
The committee Democrats accuse Trump of deliberately charging the Secret Service "exorbitant rates," far above what other similar rooms cost, when agents stayed at the hotel as the protective detail for Trump family members.
In a 58-page investigative report, the committee Democrats argue, "The Secret Service charges associated with Eric Trump's stays at just the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., demonstrate clearly that former President Trump's D.C. hotel treated stays by Trump family members as the ultimate government ATM withdrawal opportunity."
Hotel billing records from the
Trump D.C. hotel, which closed in May 2022 and reopened under new ownership as the Waldorf-Astoria, were obtained by the committee after legal challenges against Mazars USA, which was Trump's accounting firm.
The committee Democrats said the records include billing information from only 12 months of room rentals at the Trump Hotel, from September 2017 through August 2018. The report said the records show Secret Service paid more expensive prices — with taxpayer funding — than customers who reserved similar rooms on the same nights.
Citing room rentals from Nov. 28, 2017, the report alleged, "The room records produced to the Committee by Mazars show that, on that night, among the rooms the Secret Service rented, several were charged at the $600 rate. Notably, that very night, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., rented out more than 80 rooms at rates less than $600 per room, including a dozen rooms rented to the Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Co., Ltd. — which is headquartered in China — for $338.85 each."
The report also said the Trump Hotel rooms reserved for Secret Service on Feb. 22, 2018, were more than four times more expensive than a government per diem rate. The report said the prices represented "an astounding markup of more than 450% of the per diem rate."
"The room records provided by Mazars show that, among the rooms the Secret Service rented, two rooms were charged at $895 each," the report said. "The room records also show that former President Trump's D.C. hotel rented out more than 100 rooms that evening at rates of less than $895—including at least one room rented out for just $150."
Congressional Democrats have argued Trump unlawfully and improperly sought personal wealth and income by charging taxpayers for federal government services and hotel rooms at his privately owned properties. The report alleges, "By accepting the payments that he imposed on the Secret Service, former President Trump violated the Constitution's Domestic Emoluments Clause — which provides that a president may not receive any payments from the federal government other than a salary."
