Even as former President Donald Trump remains mired in the fallout from his unlawful retention of classified government documents, a new investigation outlines how his businesses bilked the government by massively overcharging the Secret Service to stay at his properties while they were protecting him and members of his Cabinet and his family. Since the party that claims to revere law and order continues to rank Trump as its top 2024 presidential contender, let’s review the various ways in which he was — and would surely be again if given the chance — America’s grifter-in-chief.
Trump’s monetization of his office by putting up government workers at his properties on the taxpayers’ dime was controversial throughout his term. Trump and his inner circle often shrugged off the issue by claiming, vaguely, that the government was actually getting a good deal, putting up Secret Service agents for free or at reduced rates. Trump’s son Eric claimed in 2019 that the Trump Organization charged the government “like, $50” for hotel rooms in conjunction with presidential travel.
It turns out that claim is off by ten- or twentyfold. Documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week allege the Trump Organization charged “exorbitant” rates to the government, in some cases significantly over $1,000 a night — many times the government’s normally allowed rates for its personnel. The documents show Trump’s properties took in some $1.4 million in government payments for Secret Service lodging alone during his presidency.
If that scam sounds familiar, it should. Again and again while he was president, stories arose of the various ways Trump was getting the taxpayers to augment his hotels and resorts. The former Trump International Hotel in Washington was a huge draw for government officials, lobbyists and foreign dignitaries who wanted to influence the president. U.S. Air Force personnel making a stopover in Scotland were frequently put up at Trump’s Turnberry Resort there, though it made no logistical or financial sense. Trump even tried to get the 2019 G-7 global economic summit moved to his Doral Resort in Florida, though the impropriety was so outrageous even he couldn’t go through with it.
The Constitution’s Emoluments Clause clearly prohibits presidents from profiting from government service beyond their salaries, but Trump casually and repeatedly flouted that rule like he flouted so many others. The man whose well-documented pre-presidential business practices included ripping off contractors and defrauding paying customers of his various sketchy enterprises wasn’t about to let a little thing like the dignity of the presidency prevent him from making a buck off it.
Since Trump demolished the long-standing norm of presidents putting their finances in blind trusts, that norm should become a law, and Congress should explore other safeguards to prevent future sticky-fingered presidents from treating the office like an open till.
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