Budget watchdogs are criticizing the cost of President Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Trump has been at his so-called “Winter White House” the past three weekends. That’s 11 of his first 33 days in office. The travel has an estimated price tag of $10 million.
Between Secret Service and police surrounding the estate, and the U.S. Coast Guard in the surrounding waters, Mar-a-Lago is a fortress when the president is here. The White House won’t disclose the exact cost of Mr. Trump’s visits, but the $10 million estimate is based on figures from a similar trip by President Obama in 2013.
Mar-a-Lago, built by the heiress of the Post cereal fortune, is now the “Winter White House” of President Donald Trump.
Air Force One accounts for a big chunk of the presidential travel budget, costing more than $180,000 per hour to operate, reports CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez. That means the roughly four-hour roundtrip flight to his seaside estate costs more than $700,000.
When the news broke that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile, President Trump consulted with his national security staff in a Mar-a-Lago di…
“If he’s going down there every weekend, the costs are going to add up pretty quickly,” said Tom Fitton, president of watchdog group Judicial Watch. Fitton is pressing the administration to release Mr. Trump’s travel costs. “He doesn’t need to go to Florida every weekend. He can work at the White House or up at Camp David,” Fitton said. Mr. Trump often attacked his predecessor over his travel. He once tweeted: “President @barackobama’s vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars—Unbelievable!”
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