Trump charged Secret Service “exorbitant” rates to protect him and family on his properties

Yea, Trump Inc was all over this, as was David Farenthold and Carol Leonig

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/17/trump-secret-service-hotel-rates-records/

Trump, Inc.: Episodes | WNYC Studios | Podcasts

 

Not sure if this has been posted, but might as well put it here, as it's yet another story about how unbelievably greedy Trump is. Trump, who owns 90% of the shares of the media company that Truth Social is a part of, kept asking one of the co-founders if he would give some of his shares to Melania. They guy of course refused and was pushed out a few months later.


Will Wilkerson, then an executive at former president Donald Trump’s start-up Trump Media & Technology Group, was at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., coffee shop with company co-founder Andy Litinsky last October when Trump called Litinsky with a question: Would he give up some of his shares to Trump’s wife, Melania?

Trump Media, the owner of the fledgling social network Truth Social, had just been boosted by a huge merger agreement and a flood of investment that had made the stake worth millions of dollars. Trump had already been given 90 percent of the company’s shares in exchange for the use of his name and some minor involvement, leaving everyone else to split the rest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/15/truth-social-trump-animosity-whistleblower/

 

The source is one of the most unreliable sources on the planet. It's right up there with the People's daily.

 

Shouldn't be surprising in the least. Trump is the first president to monetize the presidency while in office and he has done it in big way. Let's not forget this:
Trump’s move to host the G7 at his Doral resort takes self-dealing to new levels
Or this:
An Air National Guard crew reportedly stopped by Trump's luxury resort on their flight to the Middle East
And there was also this.
Trump’s Interference in the FBI Headquarters Relocation Plan - American Oversight

 

Attack the messenger if you don't like the message. If you think it's b*ll sh*t feel free to provide links to credible sources disputing the veracity of the article.

 

You didn't read the story.

 

Wouldn't the bigger surprise be if he didn't pump up the rates to put more cash in his pockets?

Wash Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/17/trump-secret-service-hotel-rates-records/

 

bigger part is that he testified that they were entered into merger negotiations before the public company was ever formed.uhmm, that's highly illegal. Hello SEC

there are so many fish being prepared for the fryer right now.

 

In before the TDS card gets trotted out.

 

New York Times also has it. I read it in the Sentinel this morning. I'm not sure what the problem is. He can charge whatever his company allows.

A grift is not necessarily against the law is it?

 

There are no federal rules regarding hotel charges. Only state rules, which differ from state to state. In general, most hotels can't charge more than rack rates. And rack rates are the highest, possible a guest will ever be charged for a room. And rarely, if ever, a hotel charges rack rate. Rack rate are only ever charged during the highest demand, and most rack rates are often 3X to 4X what you can find the room for online.

What Trump did may not be illegal per state law, but it's certainly immoral. If the non-government person is charged $350/night and for the same room, Secret Service is being charged $1,100/night because that's the rack rate, that's overcharging the government, knowing it will be paid.

 

Biden should bill him back.

 

He can call it the Billed Back Better Act. It will be the most beautiful bill ever sent out!

 

But ya'll forget for that $1,200.00 Ivanka would stop in for 30 minutes...........

 

Grifters will grift. Taking our tax dollars for your business is much smarter than taking the silly little $400k salary. Makes you look good!

 

There are a couple of interrelated issues. The situation is somewhat unique because prior Presidents never put themselves in such blatant conflict of interest positions. But high-level protectees normally have some issue because they have other residences they travel to and would need to lease out space to the Secret Service to establish a permanent “station”. But there was never so much profiteering.


The legal violation is because the Secret Service is subject to governmental regulations limiting the amount they can pay. That limit was just ignored. Pretty obvious by now the Secret Service was completely in his pocket, even helping to foment the insurrection. This was likely not the case where they felt pressured, I don't think. They would have been pressured, but I don't think it ever got to that. They were fine with the grift because they believed in the cause rather than the mission.


In defense of the grifters, they probably could actually prove that they could lease out those rooms to others at exorbitant rates if the Secret Service were not taking them. That's because the whole hotel was a source of graft/grift. One of the reasons it's no longer profitable and the Trumps couldn't wait to get rid of it after leaving office is that the major appeal of the hotel were people who wanted access to Trump, be they foreign officials, state officials, the TMobile CEO that wanted a merger approved, etc. That was the primary business model; it was well known that if you come to Washington and had not stayed at the hotel (paying way above market rates), you are not going to get access or whatever you are seeking from the administration that he could control.


They also did a lot of convention business along the same lines. You knew you had to book there, regardless of cost, if you did not want to risk retaliation.

 

There's a maximum per diem rate for federal employees, and it's certainly not $1000.00. I know it applies to the military and FBI, not sure about the Secret Service, specifically. I don't know how the SS got around the cap, unless there was some sort of exemption, or collusion.

Then there's the fact that Don Jr. insisted many times that the protection detail was given discounted rates, staying for standard or less rates. Lie.

Trump monetized the Presidency. I believe there's a law against that, and I don't know why it was never enforced. He probably thought it was a brilliant business move, being unacquainted with ethics, morals, or shame.