Washington — In a report launched Friday morning, Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee allege that newly obtained data present then-President Donald Trump overcharged the U.S. Secret Service for rooms at his former resort in Washington, D.C., throughout his presidency.
The committee Democrats accuse Trump of intentionally charging the Secret Service “exorbitant charges,” far above what different related rooms value, when brokers stayed on the resort because the protecting element for Trump members of the family.
In a 58-page investigative report, the committee Democrats argue, “The Secret Service costs related to Eric Trump’s stays at simply the Trump Worldwide Lodge in Washington, D.C., exhibit clearly that former President Trump’s D.C. resort handled stays by Trump members of the family as the final word authorities ATM withdrawal alternative.”
Lodge billing data from the Trump D.C. resort, which closed in Could 2022 and reopened underneath new possession because the Waldorf-Astoria, have been obtained by the committee after authorized challenges in opposition to Mazars USA, which was Trump’s accounting agency.
The committee Democrats stated the data embody billing info from solely 12 months of room leases on the Trump Lodge, from September 2017 by way of August 2018. The report stated the data present Secret Service paid dearer costs — with taxpayer funding — than prospects who reserved related rooms on the identical nights.
Citing room leases from Nov. 28, 2017, the report alleged, “The room data produced to the Committee by Mazars present that, on that evening, among the many rooms the Secret Service rented, a number of have been charged on the $600 fee. Notably, that very evening, the Trump Worldwide Lodge in Washington, D.C., rented out greater than 80 rooms at charges lower than $600 per room, together with a dozen rooms rented to the Internal Mongolia Yitai Coal Co., Ltd. — which is headquartered in China — for $338.85 every.”
The report additionally stated the Trump Lodge rooms reserved for Secret Service on Feb. 22, 2018, have been greater than 4 instances dearer than a authorities per diem fee. The report stated the costs represented “an astounding markup of greater than 450% of the per diem fee.”
“The room data offered by Mazars present that, among the many rooms the Secret Service rented, two rooms have been charged at $895 every,” the report stated. “The room data additionally present that former President Trump’s D.C. resort rented out greater than 100 rooms that night at charges of lower than $895—together with at the very least one room rented out for simply $150.”
Congressional Democrats have argued Trump unlawfully and improperly sought private wealth and earnings by charging taxpayers for federal authorities providers and resort rooms at his privately owned properties. The report alleges, “By accepting the funds that he imposed on the Secret Service, former President Trump violated the Structure’s Home Emoluments Clause — which supplies {that a} president could not obtain any funds from the federal authorities aside from a wage.”
