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U.S. taxpayers have now paid properties owned by President Donald Trump's company the equivalent of over four years worth of room rentals, totaling nearly $1 million since he took office in January 2017, according to federal records.
The government has paid at least $970,000—including $340,000 since March—to Trump's company for room rentals at hotels and clubs, as well as other expenses, according to the records obtained by The Washington Post. The payments made since March were mostly related to trips taken by the president, his family and other White House officials.
While it appears the government did not pay for rooms occupied by Trump and his family, payments were made for rooms occupied by Secret Service agents and other staffers that joined the president on his trips. The total figure of more than $970,000 includes 950 nights at Trump's Bedminster golf club in New Jersey and 350 nights at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment. This story will be updated with any response.
Trump passed on control of his business to his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, after he was voted into the White House in 2016. However, the president still owns the company.
Since taking office, Trump has faced ongoing allegations of profiting from the presidency over payments made to his company from his own government. The Constitution blocks sitting presidents from receiving money from the government that's not strictly salary-related, however, Trump's attorneys argue that the Constitution was not written with any intention to disallow business transactions. The issue is currently still being decided in various court cases.
The president's company has also dismissed concerns regarding conflicts of interest by noting that his companies charge the federal government at "cost" price for the rooms.
Trump's 2020 reelection campaign has also paid large sums of money to the president's hotels, restaurants and other businesses. In the first quarter of 2019, Trump's campaign paid $137,025 to rent out Trump Tower buildings from January 1 to March 31, $5,289 for accommodation at Trump's hotels and $25,436 for legal services from Trump Corporation, according to financial disclosures.
Spending of this nature has been ongoing since Trump first launched his presidential campaign in 2015. Trump's campaign has paid more than $14 million in total to Trump brands, with $13,348,846 of that figure spent in 2016 and $1,584,941 in 2018, according to a 2019 report by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit research group based in D.C..
Anna Massoglia, researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, told Newsweek last year that Trump's campaign payments to his businesses increased sharply in 2016 and continued to remain frequent in 2018 during the midterm elections. "Now we are seeing this continuing into the 2020 cycle," she said.
