Former president Donald Trump has continued a trend at the Mar-a-Lago Club that began during his time in the White House: charging the Secret Service for expenses accrued while protecting him.
According to a report from the Washington Post, Trump’s Florida club and new residence has been charging the Secret Service $396.15 a night for a room for his security detail, beginning on January 20 when Trump left Washington, D.C., and Joe Biden was sworn in as president. The Secret Service released the information in response to a public-records request by the newspaper. Trump has charged the Secret Services through at least April 30, at which point they totaled $40,011.15 — an amount that will ultimately be footed by taxpayers.
A source familiar with the financials told the Post that the charges were for a single room that Secret Service agents used as a “workspace.”
The Post has previously reported on Trump charging the U.S. government at least $2.5 million while in office, money that went to his company due to the former president’s penchant for frequenting his own properties, such as Mar-a-Lago and his Bedminster, New Jersey, club.
Trump recently moved to Bedminster for the summer season. It’s unclear if he’s continued charging the Secret Service there, though he previously billed the agency $567 a night while he was president.
The billionaire former president has found various other ways to continue using taxpayer funds in his post-presidency. This week, Insider obtained government records that show how Trump is making use of funding available to all presidents for six months after they leave office “for use in connection with winding up the affairs of his office,” per the Presidential Transition Act. Trump is using this public money to employ at least 17 transition aides in Palm Beach, Florida, and Arlington, Virginia — including former White House aides Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino.
His team is also billing taxpayers for mundane office supplies, like a $74.89 plastic floor mat to go under Trump’s desk chair:
On February 12, [Nicholas Luna, deputy chief of staff for policy and personnel] submitted a copy of his receipt for the mat — from an OfficeMax in West Palm Beach, Florida — to the GSA for reimbursement.
One day earlier, a GSA employee agreed over email to place an order for four cartridges of printer toner for Trump’s team. Price tag: $397.56.
[Beau Harrison, deputy chief of staff for operations] asked for $5,000 to be placed on Trump’s Stamps.com account on February 23. Earlier that month, Harrison sent an invoice to GSA asking them to purchase a stationery package for both Donald Trump and Melania Trump.
The package included 46,250 cards — some engraved with their initials “DJT” and “MT” — for a total cost of $34,775.94.
Meanwhile, Trump has also been receiving payments from his presidential pension. Insider reported that the one-term president has collected $65,600 since January.
Trump indicated as early as November 2016 that he wouldn’t take the $400,000 presidential salary, telling CBS’s Lesley Stahl, “No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.”
During his term, Trump reportedly donated his salary to various government agencies, including the National Parks Service and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to USA Today. It’s unclear if the former president has donated any of his pension payments.
