Melania Trump Racked Up $174,000 In Hotel Bills For a Day Trip To Toronto

[James48]

First Lady Melania Trump ran up a six-figure hotel bill for a one-day trip to Toronto last year, according to federal spending records.

Government spending data show at least six separate Toronto hotel charges ranging from just under $12,000 to nearly $49,000 for a total of roughly $174,000. She did not spend the night.

The total was roughly eight times what it cost to house the first lady’s advance team, whose $18,000 in hotel expenses were broken out separately; in addition to the hotel charges, the first lady’s trip involved $21,000 in transportation costs.

Reports from the press pool that accompanied Trump on her September 23, 2017, Canadian excursion showed that her schedule involved multiple hotel stops. Based on those reports, this was her itinerary for the day:

Source: GovExec.com

More:
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2018/11/melania-trump-racked-174000-hotel-bills-day-trip-toronto/152884/

[ailsagirl]

1. I won't write what I'm thinking but you can imagine

[blueinredohio]

66. I think I'm imagining the same thing.

[rzemanfl]

2. I agree with Bette Midler. n/t

[dalton99a]

12. +1

[Jeffersons Ghost]

46. K&R

[smirkymonkey]

3. Are you serious? That is obscene!

I did not get anything at the link posted.

She didn't even spend the night! That's Marie Antoinette territory! Where is the accountability? I think we deserve an accounting of just what the Trump family has been spending during their tax-payer funded trips.

[enid602]

38. Catherine

I was thinking Catherine the Great.

[smirkymonkey]

41. At least Catherine the Great was intelligent and turned Russia

into one of the great powers of Europe. Melania is useless.

[enid602]

43. Catherine

I was thinking of Catherine with the horse and the piano wire.

[smirkymonkey]

45. I think those were just rumors.

Catherine the Great did have many lovers, but I think the other things were all made up.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Every time I see her described as First Lady

I want to vomit and then throw something across the room.

First Lady, my ass............Bette nailed it.

[rzemanfl]

13. DUer Autumn calls her "First Nude." It fits.

[Demovictory9]

22. it does

[FakeNoose]

24. Bette Midler called her "FLOTITS" in a tweet yesterday

It's a pun based on "FLOTUS" meaning the First Lady of the United States, and you can guess the rest.

[enid602]

39. Floater

So I guess that makes her husband the ‘Floater.’

[Cracklin Charlie]

5. Someone show my feeble brain...

How this is even possible.

She didn’t spend the night?
What were these charges for?

[KatyaR]

37. A place to change clothes, probably.

And she probably had to have the highest-cost room in the hotels to do it.

[Retrograde]

47. That makes a little sense, but

raises a few more questions:
-why does she have to change clothes so often, and
-why can't she just have one base of operations and change all her outfits there?

Or why not just change in the car like I hear regular voters do?

[jberryhill]

52. Reception venues

Does everyone think she held a reception for the Invictus athletes and the prince in a hotel room?

[pansypoo53219]

58. also to fix her face spackle. needs the best lighting. no ladies loo.

[Maven]

6. The cheap hustler is going to grift as much as she possibly can

Just like her husband. They're both disgusting.

[mtnsnake]

7. Perfectly said. n/t

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. Fucking Grifters

[dlk]

9. All that Upkeep Isn't Cheap

[malaise]

10. This is a kakistocracy

on steroids

[mnmoderatedem]

11. I guess we can count on fiscal conservatives to express their outrage.

oh wait trump. Crickets as usual.

[Cha]

14. Canada should ban that gaslighting

2 bit hustler for life.

How dare she show her "I don't care" face there.

[Retrograde]

15. Toronto can be an expensive city...

and when you factor in the exchange rate - oh, that currently works in the US's favor. Obviously she needed them to cope with the time change - oh, wait, Toronto's the same time zone as DC and NYC.

A more charitable person's mind would be thinking of kickbacks; my mind is going more to padding the bills and overstating expenses.

[Autumn]

16. Was it one of those charge by the hour hotels?

[Johnny2X2X]

17. She's buying jewelry and clothes

She’s shopping at hotels. Taxpayers are buying her diamonds and designer dresses. She should go to jail for this but she won’t.

[Solly Mack]

21. That was my thought. They're hiding her shopping expenses as official expenses.

[Demovictory9]

23. my thought also

[JI7]

25. that's why she wanted the person who was critical of her travels fired

[dameatball]

30. Interesting take. I had not thought of that.

[salin]

53. I read that as well.

[salin]

54. I can't think of any explanation.

Tours of the most expensive hotel boutiques.

Maybe getting design ideas for a future jewelry line?

[Stinky The Clown]

18. "Multiple Hotel Stops"

Who does that??

Oh yeah.

That.

[jberryhill]

61. Who does that?

Someone attending/hosting multiple receptions with up to 100+ guests.

Just a guess.

[Generic Brad]

19. That's a lot of room service

Because there is no way she would excessively overpay with the (wink wink) understanding that the hotel would keep some and give her back the majority through a kick back to a front organization. She wouldn't do that? Would she? Nah.

[jberryhill]

33. That's why you never drink from the mini bar

[smirkymonkey]

42. *snort*

At that sum, she must have been plastered at the end of the day. Being married to Donald, I suppose I can't blame her.

[riversedge]

20. Reporter asksked about specifics but was told he would have to go through FOIA act.

...........Asked about the details of the expenses, the first lady’s office referred specific questions to the State Department, which told us we would a need to file Freedom of Information Act requests for more information.

[Achilleaze]

26. republicans are squandering our hard-earned tax dollars on junky luxuries for themselves

I protest. If it ain't Melania pampering herself with our tax money, it's her republican spousal unit, Dirty Donny*, indulging in glorious, golden, fabulous golf goof-offs.

Hard-working American taxpayers deserve a huge refund from the "billionaire" republicans getting fat from the public treasury.



* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[Maeve]

36. A little George Harrison here

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.
In their styes with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a damn good whacking.
Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.

[duforsure]

27. Another good example of a grifter

When a first lady spends that for a luxury travel junket to go shopping with OUR money , and while they robbed the American people of their health care. There needs to be accountability , and everything she spent on should be made public, period. Add to that her expenses for her trip to Africa too. All while the deficit under trump has sky rocketed upward to record levels now. They should be made to reimburse what they spent .

[Bigredhunk]

28. Hmm

Do ritzy hotels rent rooms by the hour?

[Achilleaze]

29. republicans likely squandering our tax money on frikken russian caviar

to please their prissy palates, and to stuff their corpulent gullets at taxpayer expense. Next time I hear one of the republicans claiming to 'conservative' I'm going to blow good, old, patriotic American catfish chunks on his $1,500 Bruno Magli republican loafers.

[MFGsunny]

31. Conspicuous Consumption .....

And paid for off our working backs .... grrrrr

Shameful. Period.

[duforsure]

32. Was this another reason why she had the woman fired recently?

She was scared she'd out her to the press, or did for her Africa trip costs?

[dewsgirl]

76. This is what I have been thinking. That was around $100,000.for 6 hours

I dont believe she ever entered the hotel.

[kairos12]

34. Let them eat Trump steaks.

[SWBTATTReg]

35. Stop traveling!! NT

[tonedevil]

40. It ain't cheap...

to be best.

[Greybnk48]

44. Money laundering. n/t

[DFW]

48. Someone should show this report to all House Republicans. That is exactly their year's salary

Several House of Representatives members have complained about the cost of living in the D.C area (it ain't cheap, I'll grant them that). I remember seeing a report or two about some of them complaining they can't live comfortably on $174,000 a year gross salary. OK, I want a statement from EVERY House Republican on how they justify the cost of a day trip to Toronto by Trump's wife being worth as much as they earn in a year. Any of them have an explanation?

I know, I might as well wait for the effects of gobal warming to be reversed in a weekend.

[Vinca]

49. Why would anyone hop from hotel to hotel to hotel on a one day trip?

They should be raked over the coals on this one. That's an obscene amount of money to spend on a one day trip.

[jberryhill]

51. Because hotels have event and reception venues

The article is written in an odd way to make it seem like these are all charges for accommodations instead of reception halls.

I doubt she met with the Invictus Games athletes and gave a speech in a hotel suite instead of a reception venue.

[EleanorR]

56. she spoke at one reception for 100 athletes

And given Toronto was hosting the games and we just sent a delegation, they may have popped for the venue.

[jberryhill]

60. I don't know what "they may have popped" means

But neither the City of Toronto nor the non-profit team organizer is paying for a reception for the First Lady, her entourage, the press, 100 athletes, etc., if that’s what “popped” is supposed to mean.

[EleanorR]

62. one reception, one 8 minute speech, a few photos, and then she left

Still not adding up to 174 grand.

[jberryhill]

65. I doubt they book reception facilities by the minute

If someone is holding a media event in a reception hall with 100+ guests, I doubt the charge is based on the period of time spend there by the host, since it renders the hall unavailable for anything else for the entire day.

I’m not defending profligate spending, but the way the article is written - by reference to room rates instead of conference and reception facilities - is for simpleminded people.

It’s a tiresome trope that is used regardless of the administration - e.g. the nattering on the right about the expense of the Obama’s attending a broadway performance in New York during that administration.

Whenever any of these people goes anywhere, it’s like moving the Barnum & Bailey circus. But to pretend these were payments for bedrooms is just plain stupid.

[EleanorR]

67. My point was, this wasn't a reception she was hosting

She just stopped in to say a few words and then went to her next appointment.

[Retrograde]

68. That's a possibility, but the cited article

only lists a couple of events:

12:09 pm (Sept. 23): Arrives in Toronto. The first lady travels to a downtown Sheraton, meets with Britain’s prince Harry for 20 minutes, and then departs for the Ritz-Carlton.

4 pm: Returns to Sheraton. The first lady meets with U.S. athletes competing in the Invictus Games (an event for disabled veterans created in 2014 by prince Harry) for 20 minutes. She delivers a speech that was one minute, 15 seconds long.

6:35 pm: Arrives at Air Canada Centre. The first lady greets prime minister Justin Trudeau and his family and watches the opening ceremony of the games from a VIP suite.

12:12 am (Sept. 24): Returns to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland.

The reception for the athlete could take place in a hotel ballroom or other function space, but why is the US paying for her to go to a foreign country to meet the grandson of the titular head of that country? Or to host the prime minister of that country? Shouldn't they be hosting her? And what was she doing at the Ritz-Carlton?

I've done a little bit of event planning, and venue costs can get up there if you don't have a halfway decent negotiator handling the details. The multiple hotels seems to me that she's found some new way of grifting, or her staff sucks at planning.

[jberryhill]

69. She was the ceremonial head of the US delegstion

Canada wasn’t paying for a reception for the 100+ US athletes, of which she was the leader of the delegation.

It would be more informative to get the details in the expense, but the “omg X spent Y on Z” trope is hardly a new one. It’s a time-honored trope.

[EleanorR]

70. It was co-hosted by the Fisher House Foundation and the US Consulate General in Toronto

She just stopped by to speak briefly and take a few photos.

[jberryhill]

71. Well duh

“Asked about the details of the expenses, the first lady’s office referred specific questions to the State Department”

Do you know who runs the US consulate in Toronto?

Trump was the symbolic head of the delegation. The US State Department, to whom questions are about the expenses are referred, held a reception for the 100+ athletes in the delegation of which Trump, as the head thereof, appeared and gave a speech. Yes, the US consulate in Toronto is a facility of the US state department.

[EleanorR]

72. and the Fisher House Foundation

[jberryhill]

73. Is a non profit charity that isn't renting ballrooms

You can review their financials here:

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/10512082

It’s pretty clear they weren’t paying for the reception on that budget.

[duforsure]

79. I agree

Good reason for a complete investigation

[Totally Tunsie]

50. Wait - I'm confused. Isn't the "john" supposed to pay for the room?

I've been watching too many movies with mistakes in them.

[unblock]

55. I found one of their invoices:

It's from http://www.letthemeatcakenyc.com

[NastyRiffraff]

57. I don't believe it

Oh, I believe $174K was involved. But I think a big chunk of it went directly into somebody's pocket.

[jrthin]

59. Self entitled grifters and pigs, the whole family. nt

[2naSalit]

63. What was that she said about, "I wish you would watch what I do..."? nt

[NoMoreRepugs]

64. Karma needs to land on these people like planets colliding.

[SammyWinstonJack]

74. Wilma Flintstone....charge it! Malaria on a taxpayer shopping spree at hotel boutiques.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

75. Sounds like a job for a congressional oversight hearing.

[Farmer-Rick]

77. The first escort and nude model of the US was busy stuffing our tax dollars

into her g-string. She is living the ultimate sex worker's fantasy on our hard earned tax dollars.

[Me.]

78. $95,000. For 4 Hours At A Cairo Hotel

and this. I think we need to see the itemized. These people are squandering the US Treasury. Don jr. goes to India for their business and it costs us 100K.

[Scurrilous]

80. ...

[Achilleaze]

81. Are republicans going to re-pay the US Treasury for this squandering of...

our hard-earned tax dollars? That would be honest thing. But they are republicans, and never do the honest or decent thing.

[Gothmog]

82. How does one run up such a large tab in one day?

[tblue37]

83. Are there stores in high end hotels, where she could be buying purses, jewelry, etc.? nt

[Achilleaze]

84. Melania plans to refund the US Treasury for her indulgent extravagances

Not. She's a republican grifter, and feels 'special' - entitled to grift American taxpayers endlessly.

[maxrandb]

85. From now on, whenever we talk about these grifters grifting, we should say "RAKED" up

racked-up