House Democrats on the Oversight Committee sent a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray on Wednesday asking for information about the payments that the agency made to Trump properties in order to stay at the places where they protect the president.
In the letter, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) cited a report from The Washington Post finding that the General Services Administration, which oversees the Secret Service, has paid rates up to $650 per night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The Secret Service was also previously billed up to $17,000 per month for a cottage at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
In a tweet, the Democratic lawmakers wrote, “President Trump doesn’t want the American people to know how much of THEIR money he is spending on Secret Service details at his private clubs and hotel. They deserve to know what the actual numbers are.”
That’s why Chairwoman @RepMaloney & @RepSpeier seek documents from the Secret Service disclosing the full scope of payments from Trump's businesses or expenses for presidential travel to his OWN properties.
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) February 12, 2020
Read their letter: https://t.co/VEhgZhSeUq
In their letter, Maloney and Speier also noted that a report from the Government Accountability Office “found that federal agencies spent at least $13.6 million for just four trips to Mar-a-Lago in early 2017. Of those expenses, the Secret Service incurred about $1.6 million to provide support.”
The congresswomen added later that “the Secret Service has not disclosed the full scope of its payments to the president’s businesses or its expenses for presidential travel to its own properties.”
They requested all documents since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 — which they want by Feb. 25. They also requested communications between the Secret Service and the Trump Organization.
Democrats have consistently accused the White House of stonewalling them when they’ve requested documents. In April, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee asked for Trump’s tax returns but acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney promised that Democrats would never get their hands on the president’s tax returns.
