This Weekend's Trump Mar-a-Lago getaway could cost taxpayers more than $3 million

[Miles Archer]

Link to tweet

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago getaway could cost taxpayers more than $3 million

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-mar-lago-taxpayers-234562

President Donald Trump’s trip to his luxury resort in Mar-a-Lago this weekend could saddle taxpayers with a bill upward of $3 million and is already drawing the type of scrutiny Trump and other Republicans regularly heaped upon former President Barack Obama.

The Florida trip is Trump’s first getaway as president and is expected to be part business, part pleasure. He will reunite with his wife, Melania, who has been living in Trump Tower in Manhattan as their 10-year-old son Barron finishes the school year, and there are rumors he will attend the American Red Cross’ annual fundraising gala, which is being held at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night. In between the socializing, Trump will have several meetings and phone calls as he maintains his aggressive work schedule.

The closest approximation of the cost comes from a report the Government Accountability Office prepared in 2016 about one of Obama’s trips in 2013 at the request of Republican Sen. John Barrasso. The trip was actually quite similar to the one that Trump is about to take. It occurred in February 2013 over the course of four days. Obama flew from Joint Base Andrews to Chicago on Feb. 15 to deliver a speech on the economy and the middle class, then flew from there to Palm Beach, Florida. He returned on Feb. 18. But for the Chicago detour, Trump’s trip is almost identical.

The cost of the 2013 trip for the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, was $3.6 million, the GAO found.

[doc03]

1. I am wondering if Trump will bill the government for

his entertainment expenses on top of everything else. Wouldn't that be illegal for everyone else but Trump?

[world wide wally]

5. What do you think the $3 million is for?

[doc03]

9. Sounds like that was just for security. I wonder if he will be pocketing

government money for the expenses at his resort, Rooms, food, golf and whatever else they did? He profited from the
Republican party during his campaign, billing them for office space, rooms and whatnot.

[putitinD]

2. I wonder how many illegals Trump employs at Mar-a-lago?

[demmiblue]

3. That was last weekend's trip.

I would think that this weekend's trip will cost the same, if not more (additional security/lodgings for the Prime Minister, etc.).

[NotThisTime]

8. So now we know he's up to six million and 4 days off thus far. Impressive. Nevermind NYC

[northoftheborder]

4. I object....

....to the taxpayers paying security expenses for two extra luxury homes year round, since Melania is living in one full time, and presumably Mango Mussolini will spend many weekends in Florida. Maybe they could rent out Camp David during this presidency - probably too low class for the Gilded Ones.

[Initech]

6. This is the very thing they accused Obama of doing!

God damn every single last one of them!

[Tanuki]

7. That's money they grabbed by halving the number of EPA staff

who were scheduled to attend a climate conference in Anchorage this weekend.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.adn.com/alaska-news/2017/02/09/epa-officials-pulled-from-alaska-event-as-trump-team-weighs-in/%3FoutputType%3Damp-type?client=ms-android-att-us

"Just three days before this week's environment conference in Anchorage, the top Environmental Protection Agency official in Anchorage called the organizer with some news: The agency had been instructed by the White House to slash the number of EPA staffers who could attend.

"We've never had this happen before," said Kurt Eilo, who has organized the Alaska Forum on the Environment for 19 years. The annual gathering brings together 1,800 people from Native Alaska communities, government agencies and the public to discuss climate-related issues, including melting permafrost and risks to villages from rising sea levels.

There had been 34 EPA staffers registered for the event at the downtown Dena'ina Center; in the end, only half were allowed to go. The agency says the late change — including scrapping the travel of some senior staff from Washington, D.C. — was about saving money for American taxpayers.

The travel change is one more sign of how President Donald Trump is taking a different approach to energy and environment than his predecessor. Federal workers and environmentalists say they are unnerved by what's been done so far: from deleted webpages on climate change to cuts in staffing at the office in the Department of Energy ....: (more at link)

[KewlKat]

10. so who escaped the basement to take the pic? or is one of the secret service shooting them?