BUSINESS AS USUAL

Trump Overcharged Secret Service at His Hotel, Dems Say

He sometimes charged them 300 percent of their per diem, according to House Democrats.

A new report by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee accuses Donald Trump of grossly overcharging his Secret Service detail when he was president, demanding as much as 300 percent of their per diem for accommodations at the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. As NBC News reports, agents assigned to Eric Trump and his wife, Lara, were billed $600 per room on the night of November 28, 2017, when more than 80 rooms were rented at a lower rate. During his presidency, Trump‘s since-sold D.C. property became a sort of hub for party operatives and the people in Trump’s orbit, which struck many media outlets as a potential conflict of interest. Examining just 11 months of his time in office, the Democrats' report puts some numbers on all that mixing and mingling. For example: Kelly Craft, whom Trump twice appointed as an ambassador, reportedly spent $30,000 at the hotel. A total of four of his ambassadorial nominees, four administration officials and commissioners, one judicial nominee, and five people he would eventually pardon also stayed and spent money at the property in those 11 months. Even this short period “reveals a menagerie of unethical transactions,” the report argues. “Just as his hotels were used to shake down foreign governments and monarchs, they were used also to fleece American taxpayers.”