An old news clip of Eric Trump has resurfaced in which he said the Secret Service is “saving a fortune” as it has been revealed Donald Trump repeatedly charged “exorbitant rates” to the agents.
The son of the former president and executive vice president of Trump Organisation was speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on 10 October 2019 when he claimed agents stayed at Trump properties for free and they only charged the cost of housekeeping.
“If my father travels, they [Secret Service agents] stay at our properties free — meaning, like cost for housekeeping,” he said at that time.
“The government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50,” he added.
However, new documents obtained by Congress revealed that Donald Trump billed the Secret Service higher amounts than the government-approved rate in 40 cases — in one case billing 1,185 per night to stay at a now-shuttered hotel in downtown Washington DC.
The records obtained as part of an investigation by the Democrat-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee show that US taxpayers paid Trump Organisation at least $1.4mn for the stays of agents which was for his and his family’s protection.
“The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump’s struggling businesses,” wrote Oversight chairwoman Carolyn Maloney.
In a statement, Eric Trump again disputed the claims that the company benefited from Secret Services’ stays at their properties.
“Any services rendered to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies at Trump owned properties, were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free,” he said.
“The company would have been substantially better off if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests, however, the company did whatever it took to accommodate the agencies to ensure they were able to do their jobs at the highest levels.”
Mr Trump made frequent visits to the properties, nearly 550 times during his four years in office and security agents had to follow him where ever he went as per security protocol, according to a report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
