Trump Org charged Secret Service up to $1,185 a night for Trump Hotel rooms: House committee

Former President Donald Trump’s real estate company dramatically overcharged the Secret Service, charging agents up to $1,185 a night for rooms at his own hotel.

A report from the House of Representatives Oversight Committee accused Trump of “self-dealing” by soaking the taxpayer for about five times the government’s normal per diem rate ranging from $195 to $240.

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“The exorbitant rates ... 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 the committee chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York.

This March 11, 2019 photo, shows the north entrance of the Trump International in Washington. (Mark Tenally/)

Despite repeated claims that the former president would use his businesses to save the federal government money, including representations from Eric Trump that government employees traveling with former President Trump “stay at our properties for free,” documents obtained by the committee show that the Secret Service was charged rates in excess of the government rate at least 40 times from Jan. 20, 2017, to Sept. 15, 2021.

The committee estimates the Secret Service forked over at least $1.4 million to Trump’s company during his four years in office to house agents protecting members of the former first family, including his grown children.

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Maloney demanded that the Secret Service provide more information about payments to Trump-owned properties, both during Trump’s four-year term in office and since he left the White House.

“Given the longstanding concerns surrounding the former president’s conflicts of interest and efforts to profit off the presidency, the committee has a strong interest in obtaining a complete accounting of federal government spending at Trump properties,” Maloney said.

Members of the Secret Service stand outside the Oval Office as President Donald Trump, left, speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/)

In a letter to the Secret Service director, Maloney specifically addressed that records turned over to her committee do not include payments for visits to Trump’s private club at Mar-a-Lago; his golf course in Bedminster, N.J.; and for stays at Trump properties outside the United States during frequent foreign travel by the Trump family.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency is aware of Maloney’s request for a fuller account, according to The Washington Post.