Thread by @Fahrenthold

Ok, folks...I want to ask your help with something!

I’m trying to solve a mystery. And I've got data! Now, I'm hoping you will see answers in it that I haven't found yet...1/

I've got a list of payments that the Secret Service paid to @realdonaldtrump's D.C. hotel. Total of $126,000, in just a year.
What I don't have is the *why.*
What was the Trump Hotel charging for, and at what rates?
All I have is the dates and dollar amounts, like this.

But! Sometimes dates and dollar amounts are important clues. Look at the string of $3,146 payments at the bottom here. What's the pattern?

About every 13 days, Secret Service paid Trump Org an amount equal to 13 times $242.
And $242, it turned out, was the maximum that any federal agency could pay for a hotel in DC.
It looked like a loooooong rental of the same room, billed every 2 weeks.

And, after we dug deeper, it was!
Secret Service paid @realdonaldtrump's hotel to rent Room 531 for 137 straight nights. The reason: Treasury Sec. Mnuchin was living in a Trump Hotel suite, and agents had to stay as long as he did.
Taxpayers paid $33,154.
washingtonpost.com/politics/secre…

But that leaves more payments, totalling about $126K, that I still can't explain.

If you've got time and a low enough bar for entertainment (and, let's face it, you probably do now), take a look...

Here are some charges I can’t explain from @realdonaldtrump’s D.C. hotel to the Secret Service in 2017:
3/15: $3,096
3/27: $1,976
4/17: $1,884 and $1,976
5/26: $1,580 and $2,052
6/13: $14,900
6/19: $1,100 and $3,160
6/28: $33,638* and $1,863
7/17: $11,475
(continued...)

And here's the rest, from 2017 and 2018:
7/21: $1,635
8/4: $4,932
9/7: $2,666
9/8: $640
9/18: $9,272
10/30: $2,500*
12/8: $402* and $2,973
12/13: $3,888 and $8,118
1/31/2018: $3,006 and $7,418

Here’s some hints:
--These amounts aren’t rounded: they’re all in round dollar figures.
--None appear to include sales tax.
--Trump Org often charges the govt the max allowed rate. Here's a list of maximums from then. (In my list I starred payments that match the hotel room max)

If you see any patterns In those numbers, let me know here, or via [e-mail]. Anybody who gives us a lead that produces a story gets a “Democracy Dies in Darkness” t-shirt, on me.

Now, go to it!
And thanks. /DF

Thanks to everyone who wrote back with suggestions about these mystery charges from the Secret Service to @readonaldtrump's hotel.

You gave me some great leads! I'll keep you updated as I try to run 'em down.