Thread by @Fahrenthold

As president, @realDonaldTrump has made 126 trips to his own clubs. But he's not just visiting. He's creating revenue -- at least $1.6M so far, for his own private businesses.
Some of that $ came from the GOP.
Some of it came from...you.

washingtonpost.com/politics/when-…

A little more about this story...
I think of our coverage of @realdonaldtrump’s busines in terms of three I’s: Influence, income, immigration. Each is a piece of a larger moral story – how is @realdonaldTrump balancing his old private business w/ his new, vast public trust?

Today, it's Income.
The most basic question about income and @realdonaldtrump.
Is he using the presidency to make $ for himself?

We started w/ @pbump's list of Trump's trips to his own properties.
We compared it to data from @PropOTP (showing federal spending at Trump properties) and the FEC (showing campaign spending at Trump properties).
Did Trump visits coincide with $ coming in?
washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…

Look at April 2017. @realDonaldTrump had a summit meeting w/Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. He didn't come alone. 24 White House staffers got taxpayer-funded rooms at Mar-a-Lago, at $546 a night.

Sec. of State Rex Tillerson, for instance, got Mar-a-Lago's "Adam Suite," complete with the ultimate in luxury: a land-line telephone in the bathroom.

But taxpayers didn't just pay @realDonaldTrump for these rooms. Also -- as first reported by @propublica -- taxpayers paid Trump for a drinking session his staffers held in Mar-a-Lago's "Cloister Bar." 54 shots of hard alcohol.

I circled the "service charge" there. Mar-a-Lago added it to the bill, even though there hadn't actually *been* any service.
White House staffers kicked out the bartender and served themselves. Then Trump's club sent Trump's govt the bill.
propublica.org/article/trump-…

In all, the government paid @realdonaldtrump’s club at least $30K that weekend, to host a summit that Trump himself set up. He had made himself the president, the customer, and the innkeeper. Taxpayers paid the bills.
(Trump Org says they don’t charge enough to make a profit).

Another way Trump's visits translate into $ for Trump Org: political fundraisers. GOPers want @realdonaldtrump as a headliner. So where he goes, they go --paying Trumps clubs to rent Trump's ballrooms to hear Trump speak.
Here's one payment for a single Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.

I’d wanted to understand the moral calculations made here by Trump Org: why charge the government at all, for visits that are Trump's own choice?
We sent questions.
No answers yet.

Also would love to hear from President Trump, about the moral calculations he's made here. If anybody knows his Twitter handle, let me know!

END. Thanks for following this stuff. It's only getting more interesting!