Trump's Mar-a-Lago charged $3 for glass of water, $6K for floral arrangements at summit with Shinzo Abe: Report
The Washington Post has reportedly obtained invoices raised by President Donald J. Trump's Florida resort and home Mar-a-Lago, detailing how it charged taxpayers $3 for a glass of water and $6,000 for flowers while hosting leaders from across the globe. The report claimed that federal limits on per-night room rates were "ignored" and bar tabs racked up, with residences being rented even when the POTUS wasn't at the property. The paper further revealed that Trump Tower is currently being paid $40,000 a month for office space for his re-election campaign, although it is unclear if taxpayer funds are being used. Trump's companies have reportedly been paid at least $2.5 million by the US government since he took office, according to documents obtained by Jeff Bezos-owned The Washington Post. The paper has also claimed that Trump's campaign and fundraising committee has paid out $5.6 million to his companies since his inauguration in January 2017.
Nonetheless, the White House has strongly insisted that the president hasn't tried to "profit off of taxpayers."
"Any suggestion that the President has used his own official travel or the federal government as a way to profit off of taxpayers is an absolute disgrace and lie," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. The paper found that Trump has visited his hotels and clubs more than 280 times since he took office. He hosted Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago in February 2017. According to The Post, Mar-a-Lago charged significantly more than the $182-a-night federal limit on rooms during that visit. "[There's] a five-bedroom house that three of the senior staff are staying in at $2,600 per night," State Department employee Michael Dobbs reportedly wrote in an email to his colleagues. "The two other Senior staffers (Bannon and Walsh) are expected to be charged $546 for their rooms."
The Trump White House didn't break any federal rules, which allowed them to pay up to three times the normal limit with authorization. In this case, the White House had authorized a $546 charge for the rooms. Mar-a-Lago lowered the rate it charged to the State Department several months later, even providing partial refunds for some of the earlier charges reported in the email.
In April 2017, President Trump hosted President Xi Jinping of China at Mar-a-Lago. During that visit, the resort charged a substantial amount for flowers and $50 per palm for decorative palm trees, per the report. Furthermore, a group of White House employees reportedly went to Mar-a-Lago's bar and consumed "26 servings of Patron and Don Julio tequila, 22 Chopin vodkas, and 6 glasses of Woodford Reserve bourbon," per documents obtained by The Post. The binge session reportedly cost the White House $1,005.60, including service charges.
In April 2018, exactly one year later, Trump hosted then-Japanese leader Abe once again. Mar-a-Lago, at the time, billed the U.S. government "$13,700 for guest rooms, $16,500 for food and wine, and $6,000 for the roses and other floral arrangements," per the report, which claimed the florist also charged to ensure there were no unapproved flowers at the property, as the White House didn't want "any white or yellow flowers to be inside the property."