https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-golf-trips-millions-thanksgiving_n_5ddedbefe4b0913e6f7865cf Trump Has Spent $115 Million On Golf Trips ― Or 287 Years Of Presidential Salary Trump often boasts of donating his White House pay, but taxpayers are shelling out much larger sums for his hobby. With his Thanksgiving vacation, President Donald Trump’s golf hobby has now cost Americans an estimated $115 million in travel and security expenses ― the equivalent of 287 years of the presidential salary he frequently boasts about not taking. Of that amount, many hundreds of thousands ― perhaps millions ― of dollars have gone into his own cash registers, as Secret Service agents, White House staff and other administration officials stay and eat at his hotels and golf courses. The exact amount cannot be determined because the White House refuses to reveal how many Trump aides have been staying at his properties when he visits them and will not turn over receipts for the charges incurred. In response to a HuffPost query on Wednesday asking if she knew how many administration officials other than herself are staying at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, during his Thanksgiving stay, and how much it is all costing, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham responded with a one-word answer: “No.” But lawsuits filed by news organizations and watchdog groups against other executive branch agencies ― the White House is exempt from Freedom of Information Act queries ― have revealed payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, arguably in violation of the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits Trump from accepting benefits beyond his salary from the federal or any state government. ProPublica, for example, found that Mar-a-Lago charged taxpayers $546 a night for rooms ― three times the per-diem rate and the maximum allowed by federal rules ― for 24 Trump administration officials who stayed there during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017. Taxpayers also picked up a $1,006.60 bar tab for 54 top shelf drinks ordered by White House staff. The group Property of the People recently revealed payments totaling $254,021 from the Secret Service to various Trump properties in just the first five months of his presidential tenure. Over that period, Trump had golfed 25 times. As of Wednesday, he has spent 223 days at a golf course he owns. If the first five months are an accurate indicator, that means the Secret Service has likely spent nearly $2.3 million in taxpayer money at Trump’s businesses, of which he is the sole owner. “It’s becoming abundantly clear that Donald Trump uses his presidency as a way to put money into his pocket,” said Jordan Libowitz of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “The issue isn’t that he likes golf. The issue is that he has spent a huge amount of his presidency making promotional appearances at his struggling golf courses, and leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.” Trump, like many Republicans, repeatedly criticized then-President Barack Obama for playing golf so frequently during his years in office. “I play golf to relax. My company is in great shape. @BarackObama plays golf to escape work while America goes down the drain,” Trump tweeted in December 2011. During his campaign for the Oval Office, Trump claimed that as president, he would be too busy working to have time for any vacations at all. “I love golf, but if I were in the White House, I don’t think I’d ever see Turnberry again. I don’t think I’d ever see Doral again,” he told a rally audience in February 2016, referring to two Trump-owned courses. “I don’t ever think I’d see anything. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off.” Despite those remarks, Trump is on schedule to spend far more time on the golf course than Obama did. At this point in Obama’s first term, he had spent 88 days on a golf course. But Trump’s visit to his course in West Palm Beach on Wednesday was his 223rd day at one of his own courses ― two and a half times as many golfing days as Obama. Further, Obama played the majority of his rounds at courses on military bases within a short drive of the White House, while Trump has insisted on taking numerous trips to visit his courses in New Jersey and Florida, both of which require seven-figure travel and security costs. A Government Accountability Office report earlier this year found that each Mar-a-Lago trip costs taxpayers about $3.4 million. Much of that is to fly Air Force One and the various cargo planes needed to ferry the president’s armored limousine and other vehicles in his motorcade. Based on the report’s analysis and methodology, HuffPost estimated costs for Trump’s other non-Washington-area golf trips as of May and found that the total had passed $100 million. And that was even before Trump scheduled a June stopover in Ireland ― involving costly and elaborate preparations by the State Department ― primarily to visit and promote his resort in Doonbeg. Trump’s visit to his resort in Turnberry, Scotland, in 2018 cost taxpayers an extra $3 million beyond what it would have cost had he remained in London prior to leaving for Finland. Of that, $1.2 million was just the expense of renting all the additional vehicles needed by the massive entourage that a foreign trip entails. Trump’s current trip to Palm Beach is the 25th of his presidency. Wednesday was his 58th day golfing at his course in West Palm Beach. He has golfed 77 days at his Bedminster, New Jersey, course; 77 days at his Northern Virginia course; four times at his Jupiter, Florida, course; three times in Doonbeg; twice in Turnberry; and once each at his courses in Los Angeles and Doral, Florida. Since taking office, he has golfed only twice on a course he does not own, both times in Japan at the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during official visits.
Michelle Obama Lavish Expenses Cost Taxpayers Big (AP) Tuesday, 25 August 2015 We all know the rules are a little different for the political class. But Michelle Obama’s recent trips overseas hardly qualify as official business. They are lavish, extravagant, and excessive by any reasonable metric. Moreover, these latest revelations are hardly isolated. They are part of continuum reaching back across to the earliest days of the Obama administration. Recently, Judicial Watch obtained flight expense records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that Michelle Obama’s June 2015 trip to the United Kingdom and Italy, accompanied by her daughters and mother, cost the taxpayers $240,495.67 in flight expenses alone. The records were released in response to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request filed on June 22, 2015. The flights to London, England; and Milan, Venice, and Vicenza, Italy, for the June 15 – 21, 2015, trip totaled 20:35 hours at the cost of $11,684 per hour, bringing the flight expense total to $240,495.67, according to the Air Force documents. The Obama White House, true to form, tried spin the trip as a public service that was part of Michelle Obama’s campaign to push her “Let Girls Learn” initiative and “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign. Good grief. Everyone should deny themselves and streamline their lifestyles except for the Obamas. Press reports make it evident the Obama entourage set aside substantial time for tourism. In London, Michelle Obama joined Prince Harry for afternoon tea at Kensington Palace. And the White House press office conceded that, while in Italy, “The First Lady will also visit cultural sites in Venice before returning to Washington, D.C.” The U.S. Secret Service has not yet responded to the request for attendant costs for personnel, accommodations, meals, rental cars, and related expenses. Judicial Watch released records revealing significant taxpayer-funded travel expenses for a Michelle Obama trip in July. Those records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force showed that Michelle Obama’s 2014 trip to China cost American taxpayers $362,523.53 in travel expenses alone. Mrs. Obama, her daughters, and her mother spent March 19 – 26 in China, in a trip highlighted by extended visits to some of the country’s most popular tourist sites. Apparently, the Obama family continues to bill the taxpayers for costly tourism jaunts thinly disguised as humanitarian crusades. If Michelle Obama wants to take tea with Prince Harry or enthuse over Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, she is certainly entitled to do so, but not at taxpayer expense. Since the beginning of Barack Obama’s administration, the Obamas have become increasingly notorious for unnecessary, luxurious travel, under the guise of official business. According to records obtained by Judicial Watch through FOIA requests and subsequent lawsuits, the Obamas and Bidens have spent millions of taxpayer dollars on trips, beginning with the Obamas’ much-publicized New York City “date night” in 2009 up through the president’s most frequent golf outings and the first lady’s Aspen ski jaunts. Judicial Watch uncovered an expensive combination of trips by the Obamas to Africa and Honolulu, which cost taxpayers $15,885,585.30 in flight expenses alone. The single largest prior known expense for accommodations was for Michelle Obama’s side-trip to Dublin, Ireland, during the 2013 G-8 conference in Belfast, when she and her entourage booked 30 rooms at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel, and where she stayed in the 1500 square-foot Princess Grace suite at a cost of $3,500 a night. The total cost to taxpayers for the Obamas’ Ireland trip was $7,921,638.66. To date, the known beyond-first-class travel expenses of the Obamas and Vice President Joe Biden exceed $57 million. In February, Michelle Obama took a weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado that cost taxpayers a pretty penny; $57,068.80 in travel expenses alone for the 7.4 hour-round trip flight, according to U.S.Air Force records. As we previously reported, this Aspen trip occurred in tandem with President Obama’s trip to California to play golf, speak at a cyber-security summit, and headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. The First Lady and her daughters spent Valentine’s Day weekend skiing in Aspen, returning to the White House on February 16. The next time the First Family travels – hold on to your wallet.
Your article is from Aug 2015,6.5 years of The Obama's and Bidens being in office. In 6.5 years The Obamas and Bidens spent 57 million.In 3 years Trump alone as spent 115 million.Thats just Trump.The Secret Service also protects all of his kids,their spouses and his grand kids.
Are they though? Are they really? Why does he have to "network" in 90% of his properties? Also, if the Obama's are claiming Michelle's trips were "outreach" trips and records exist of her giving talks and whatnot, how are her trips not work related?
He doesn't have to but why wouldn't he? Work related doesn't include her taking trips with her children and her Mother does it? Does it include extending trips in order to take in all of the popular tourist destinations?
Because it's corrupt af? If you can't see it, I can't help you. Honestly don't care that presidential families take a vacation. It's expected they'd do family vacations as every American does. It's also expected that their security detail will mean those vacations will be expensive. There is a difference between taking vacations and jet setting across the world securing hotel deals.