Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Senator Tom Carper, and Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following statement after a new report put the total amount of taxpayer funds spent as a result of President Donald Trump’s weekend stopover at his Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in 2018 at more than $1 million:
“American taxpayers should not be on the hook for President Trump’s golf weekend to a property he owns as a private businessman. The President has consistently abused the levers of government to promote his own personal enrichment, and we are calling on him today to reimburse the American people for the more than $1 million price tag for this unnecessary and wasteful trip. This is their money-not his-and he should return it to them immediately."
Maloney, Carper, and Warren issued their statement after the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General issued a new report finding that spending by the Secret Service alone relating to the President’s golf weekend exceeded $950,000.
This included more than $466,000 in rental car costs related to travel to the President’s resort, which is approximately 40 minutes from the nearest commercial airport.
When combined with the State Department’s own spending of more than $230,000 to support this trip, the total costs to the taxpayer of the President’s two-day stopover at his resort in Scotland amount to more than $1.1 million.
The State Department’s spending was detailed in a letter issued last year by that agency’s Inspector General in response to a request from then-Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, Senator Carper, and Senator Warren.
The members requested the investigations in 2018 after reports that President Trump made no public appearances and played two rounds of golf during his stay at Trump Turnberry prior to the Helsinki Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
