Tag: Trump abuse of taxpayer dollars

REVEALED: Trump and family stuck taxpayers with bills for undisclosed trips to his overseas golf resorts

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According to a report from the Scotsman, Donald Trump and his family stuck American taxpayers with thousands of dollars in previously undisclosed bills for travel and security costs when they visited the former president’s golf courses overseas.

Based upon Freedom of Information Act requests from the group American Oversight, the report shows that at least £17,000 (approximately $24,000) was paid out for in the ex-president’s first year in office for trips to his resorts in Ireland and Scotland.

According to the report, “Turnberry and Doonbeg received a string of payments throughout 2017,” and that taxpayers were also on the hook for “several thousand pounds for luxury car rentals during a visit to Scotland by Trump’s son Eric.” Continue reading.

Trump Cronies Got Stimulus Loans While Black-Owned Businesses Went Under

According to a report released last week, a huge number of the nation’s Black-owned businesses have shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic stimulus funds that were intended to keep minority-owned small businesses alive did not get to them in time or at all, leaving their owners with no other options.

Some 440,000 of the country’s roughly one million Black-owned companies have closed for good since the start of February, CBS News reported on Friday. The report noted that the vast majority of those companies that sought emergency relief funding through the federal Paycheck Protection Program were initially rejected — one analysis found that 95% of black-owned business were excluded.

When Donald Trump signed the $6.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March, he promised that its $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program and other provisions would “keep our small businesses strong and our big businesses strong. And that’s keeping our country strong and our jobs strong.” Continue reading.

Trump just threw a crazy-corrupt Mar-a-Lago Christmas party — and made Americans pay for it

AlterNet logoNever let it be said that Donald Trump lets a little ignominy and disgrace get in the way of a good time and money in his pocket.  Last Wednesday he became the third president in American history to be impeached. By Saturday he was throwing down at the Mar-a-Lago Studio 54 Party, alongside his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. It must have been reminiscent of the good old days when Trump and his former lawyer Roy Cohn used to frequent the famous New York club on 54th Street in its 1970s heyday, only this time around Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol were replaced by war criminal Eddie Gallagher and evangelical leader Franklin Graham. Continue reading “Trump just threw a crazy-corrupt Mar-a-Lago Christmas party — and made Americans pay for it”

Air Force leaders order probe of Trump resort stays

Stopovers at Scotland airport have tripled since 2015 and overnight stays in the area are up five-fold.

The U.S. Air Force has ordered a world-wide review of how it chooses overnight accommodations on long flights following revelations that air crews had occasionally stayed at President Donald Trump’s Scotland resort while refueling at a small commercial airport nearby.

The review comes as additional instances of military personnel staying at Trump properties have been uncovered. The C-17 crew’s overnight stay at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland earlier this year, first reported by POLITICO on Friday, was not an isolated incident.

In September 2018, on its way back to the U.S. from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a unit of the Maine Air National Guard landed at Prestwick Airport, the airport closest to Trump’s luxury waterfront resort. The crew and their passengers then spent the night at his hotel, according to one person who was present, an Instagram post and a voucher detailing the crew’s itinerary reviewed by POLITICO.

View the complete September 8 article by Bryan Bender and Natasha Bertrand on the Politico website here.

Government Watchdog: Trump’s Trips To Florida Costing Taxpayers Millions

A Coast Guard patrol boat in the waters off Mar-A-Lago. Credit: J. David Ake, AP

President Trump’s travels to his private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., give the chief executive a chance to unwind, hang out with friends and play golf. But that presidential rest and recreation comes with a cost.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office says four such trips early on in Trump’s presidency cost taxpayers $13.6 million, or some $3.4 million each. That is far higher than the estimates of Trump’s travel costs early in his presidency, which were pegged at about $1 million per trip.

The congressional watchdog’s report is the first official accounting of Trump’s travel costs. The report also found that the Secret Service spent nearly $400,000 protecting Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric on trips they took in January and February 2017. The costs of Trump’s visits to Florida were calculated based on trips in February and March of that year.

View the complete February 5 article by Brian Naylor on the NPR website here.

Trump just played a round of golf with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus

Credit: Trump Twitter feed screen capture

West Palm Beach, Florida — President Trump golfed with professionals Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus on Saturday, ending the longest stretch of his presidency without a round at one of his courses.

The White House is usually reluctant to confirm the president is golfing. But on Saturday, aides alerted reporters that Trump was at his course in Jupiter, Fla., with Nicklaus and Woods. They even ushered journalists inside the club for a peek.

The president later shared a photo of the trio on social media, and a Trump Organization official bragged about the matchup, noting that Woods and Nicklaus design courses for the company.

Trump has spent more than 150 days at his golf courses since becoming president, playing significantly more than his predecessors, whom he had mocked for golfing too much. Aides used to worry about how much time Trump spent playing but have largely accepted it. They say the president is calmest when he’s on the greens.

View the complete February 2 article by Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Trump uses taxpayer-funded trip to campaign for GOP candidates

The following article by Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website July 26, 2018:

President Trump openly campaigned for Republican candidates at a taxpayer-funded trip to Granite City, Ill., on July 26. (The Washington Post)

President Trump on Thursday used a taxpayer-funded trip to Illinois to openly advocate for electing Republicans to Congress — blurring the line between official and political events in the heat of the midterm campaign season.

“You’ve got to vote Republican, folks, you’ve got to vote Republican,” Trump said during the speech at a steel plant in Granite City, Ill.,  that had recently reopened. “Vote for these two congressmen; they know what we’re doing. They know what they’re doing. They’re tough, and they’re smart.”

Trump didn’t name the lawmakers, but three Illinois Republicans accompanied him during his tour of the plant, according to the White House: Reps. Mike Bost, Rodney Davis and John Shimkus. Bost represents the district Trump traveled to on Thursday and has been one of the most fervent Republican supporters of the president’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

View the complete post here.

Tracking the President’s Visits to Trump Properties

The following in an embed of an article by Karen Yourish and Troy Griggs posted on the New York Times website and updated July 16, 2018.  Remember, when the president travels, he travels with a large entourage all of whom are fed and lodged at these Trump properties.  When he stays overnight, they stay overnight, with taxpayer monies going directly into the president’s businesses.

Trump Sons’ Private Trip To Dubai Cost $73,000 Or More Of Taxpayer Money

The following article by Mary Papenfuss was posted on the Huffington Post website April 8, 2018 and updated that date:

The costs included hotel rooms and car service for a Secret Service detail, according to CBS.

A private trip to Dubai by President Donald Trump’s sons has so far cost U.S. taxpayers at least $73,000, CBS News reports.

The money covered expenses incurred by members of a Secret Service detail for hotel rooms and car service during the trip from March 26 to April 8, according to purchase orders viewed by CBS.

Continue reading “Trump Sons’ Private Trip To Dubai Cost $73,000 Or More Of Taxpayer Money”