The United States Department of Defense ( DoD ) pass $ 138,093 at eight line of work owned by President Donald Trump during his first six month in office , harmonize to records prevail via case advert the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) .
Property of the People , a Washington , DC - based non-profit-making transparency radical , obtained the records after sue the DoD , which had failed to properly respond to its FOIA request last June .
Thelawsuit , filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia , sought all records from Pentagon ’s Defense Travel Management Office mentioning Trump properties , or any records pertain government travel charge cards reflecting expenditures at Trump ’s businesses .
An eight - page chart turned over by the Pentagon in response to the suit uncover a total of $ 138,093.23 drop by the Department of Defense between January 20th and June 14th of last year .
During that six months , the military spent on intellectual nourishment and lodging at least $ 58,875.69 at Trump ’s Mar - a - Lago golf game club ; $ 9,618.78 at his Bedminster , NJ , golf game club ( over one weekend in May 2017 ) ; $ 35,652.44 at Trump ’s Las Vegas Hotel ; and $ 17,102.55 at Trump ’s Ocean Club in Panama . The costs cover both dates when the chairman was at Trump place and others when he was not .
For model , the Defense Department spent thousands of dollar around April 9th at Trump ’s Palm Beach club — a charge that concur with a two - mean solar day slip Trump made to his Mar - a - Lago estate . While there , Trump launched the first major military functioning of his presidentship curtly after dining with visiting Formosan President Xi Jinping .
Fifty - nine Tomahawk cruise projectile were launch at the Al Shayrat landing field in Syria thenight of April 7th , mark the first one-sided military action mechanism by the United States against the Assad government . The Pentagon paid Trump ’s club $ 12,339.60 for its stay , accord to the ledger .
A picture of Trump conduct the process — alongside Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagen , former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson , and Presidential Logos - in - jurisprudence Jared Kushner , among others — wastweetedthat night by former White House jam secretary Sean Spicer from an account now verify by Sarah Huckabee Sanders .
In early May 2017 , the Pentagon pass $ 9,618.78 at Trump ’s golf club in Bedminster , NJ , during a trip in which the Chief Executive reportedly drafted a four - Thomas Nelson Page letter with aide-de-camp Stephen Miller to justify the firing of then - FBI Director James Comey . The Pentagon pay the yellow journalism on May 8th and Comey was fire the undermentioned daylight .
Others Pentagon disbursal , however , look not take presidential traveling at all . More than $ 17,000 was spent , for case , at the Trump Ocean Club in Panama , where Trump has n’t visited since before the election . The beleaguered holding wassnatched from Trumpearlier this calendar month by Miami financier Orestes Fintiklis . ( Perhaps you ’ve seenvideoof Trump ’s name being crowbarred off the hotel ’s KO’d wall . )
“ It seems wildly inappropriate , ” said former federal prosecuting attorney Melanie Sloan , now older advisor at nonprofit watchdog American Oversight . “ It seems as if it ’s intend to nothing but suck up to the chairwoman . It ’s almost like they have a directive that everyone should go and stay at Trump hotels . ”
Sloan leaven a routine of question about the Pentagon ’s spending : “ Why were they there ? Is there another comparable hotel in the area ? Did they get a good pace at the Trump place ? Did they have a business purpose that they need to be there ? ”
In a statement to Gizmodo , a DoD voice tell : “ Department of Defense employees adhere to the section ’s Joint Travel Regulations and the General Service Administration ’s Federal Travel Regulations when utilizing approve housing and transportation trafficker during official travel . ”
The DoD record are just the latest procure by Property of the People showing taxpayer funds being spent at Trump property . Last twelvemonth , the nonprofit acquired evidence that taxpayer were charge $ 1,092 fora two - night stayat the Mar - a - Lago club . The radical acquired record last month that exhibit the General Service Administration — the agency which handles travel charge card for the Union government — had itself spentmore than $ 1,760at Trump ’s hotel and restaurant in Washington , DC .
create by MIT PhD nominee Ryan Shapiro , lawyer Jeffery Light , and activist and writer Sarahjane Blum , Property of the multitude launched in late 2016 following Trump ’s election , starting with aGoFundMe campaignto raise money for legal expenses .
The lawsuits brought by Property of the citizenry have bring to far - reaching controversy over whether President Trump is actively violating the emoluments clause , a little - known constituent preparation that proscribe presidents from obtain benefits from the government other than a salary , which can not be increase during his clock time in government agency .
Help us relentlessly file / litigate#FOIArequests against Trump / Pence admin . Transparency necessitate now more than ever!https://t.co / XbaLkGo2yVpic.twitter.com/9VDLkVZSb4
— Ryan Shapiro ( @_rshapiro)November 12 , 2016
“ The Pentagon ’s spending at Trump properties should be view as both ego - attend by the Trump administration and a likely violation of the domestic emoluments clause of the Constitution , ” said Craig Holman , a government affairs lobbyist for the transparency group Public Citizen . “ It is self - serving in that it is the Trump administration itself enrich Donald Trump . ”
Larry Noble , elderly director and world-wide council at the Campaign Legal Center , concurred . “ This shows a job that we ’ve been talking about since the very beginning , ” he said . “ That he is profit from the government using his business and often it is a habit that he has full control over . ”
trump card does n’t have to abide at hotels he owns when he travels , Noble noted , “ but when he does , one thing you could be sure of is that his company is turn a profit from it . ”
Unlike the prexy before him , Trump has done almost nothing to fend off conflicts of interest or the appearance of them — refusing , for instance , to divest his investments or place them into a blind trust . Instead , at the first of his presidency , Trump ’s adult children purportedly took direction of his business holdings . Obviously , each of them still communicates with the president on a even basis , meaning the trust is far from blind .
“ Repeatedly , our FOIA litigation has revealed blatant financial conflict of stake resulting in the transfer of taxpayer dollars to Trump properties and potential constitutional violations , ” sound out Gunita Singh , an attorney for Property of the People . “ We carry this is only the tip of the iceberg , and we fully intend to sharply proceed our FOIA work exposing kleptocracy at the high reaching of government . ”
Yesterday , McClatchyreportedthat Ivanka Trump has continued to draw a salary of more than $ 1 million from the family business while serve as a older White House advisor . A representative for Ms. Trump ’s attorney dismissed any suggestion of there being engagement , saying she had recuse herself from “ participating in any determination - devising that could pose a battle of involvement with her sept business . ”
“ Donald Trump catch the American populace as a crew of marks look to be fleeced , ” said Ryan Shapiro , co - founding father of Property of the People . “ With the DoD ’s spending at Mar - a - Lago and other Trump properties , and Trump ’s refusal to divest from his sprawling business empire , once again we rule the President ’s hand deep in the taxpayer ’s pocket . ”
Update , March 15 , 12 post-mortem examination : Updated with statement from DoD.
trump out
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