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David Fahrenthold Profile picture
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26 Oct, 7 tweets, 4 min read
Hello! We're trying to answer a simple question: How much taxpayer money has the government paid to @realdonaldtrump's company?

The White House won't say.

Trump Org won't either.

So we're figuring the answer ourselves. One receipt at a time. 1/
washingtonpost.com/politics/secre…
What we know:
--Trump Org charged up to $650 per hotel room, while claiming it charged $50.
--Trump kids brought $200K to Trump Org, by forcing their Secret Service agents to rent Trump rooms.
--Trump Org charges $17K/month for a cottage in Bedminster, even when Trump is gone.
Total payments from the government to @realdonaldtrump: at least $1.2 million.

This was taxpayer money. But it was paid in private, usually w/ no disclosure to the public

washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
The total is at least $1.1 million.

This was taxpayer money, flowing to the president's private company, w/ little or no disclosure to the public.

washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Here's what we still don't know:
--How much @realdonaldtrump paid his businesses out of the @whitehouse's own budget (The W.H. is exempt from public records requests).
--How much he got from @StateDept. State has 450 pages of records on those payments.
They will only release 2.
We sued @StateDept to get records showing how much taxpayer money they've paid @realdonaldtrump's company.

But they've told a judge they won't release more than these 2 pages -- not until after the election.

washingtonpost.com/politics/state…
The good news is: We're not done!

If you've got any information about these payments, please email me at Fahrenthold@washpost.com

BTW, you would not believe how often that works...

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More from @Fahrenthold

David Fahrenthold Profile picture
16 Oct
Hello! We’re trying to answer a simple question: how much taxpayer money has been paid to @realdonaldtrump’s businesses?

This week, we learned that the @StateDept knows a big part of the answer.

But it won’t tell until after Election Day.
washingtonpost.com/politics/state…
Backstory: we sued the @StateDept to get records about its payments to Trump properties.

They told a judge they had 450 pages, and would “aspire” produce up to 300 pages on Thursday.
When Thursday came, however, @StateDept released....2 pages!

Here they are. They show that when @LaraLeaTrump went to Trump’s golf course in Ireland, Trump Org charged her Secret Service agents $8,300 for their rooms. Taxpayers paid the bill.
Read 5 tweets
David Fahrenthold Profile picture
13 Oct
Hello! We’re trying to answer a simple question: how much taxpayer money has been paid to @realDonaldTrump’s private business?

Here’s what we’ve learned so far, in four tweets:
First we learned what @realdonaldtrump’s company *said* was happening.

They said that, when Trump’s aides and Secret Service agents needed rooms at Trump properties, the company charged super-low rates. “Like $50 bucks,” per night, @erictrump said.
So we looked for evidence to confirm Trump Org’s claim — like receipts showing they had actually charged the government that $50 per night rate.

We have found none.
Read 6 tweets
David Fahrenthold Profile picture
12 Oct
One day — July 25, 2017 — shows how @realdonaldtrump and his family have turned their Secret Service protection into a moneymaker for their private business.

On that day, Trump Org did business with the US govt in 3 countries at the same time.

Here’s how:
In IRELAND that day, @realdonaldtrump’s Doonbeg course got paid $6,500 by the government.

@erictrump had visited recently, and charged the Secret Service to come with him.
In CANADA that day, agents were arriving at @realdonaldtrump’s Vancouver hotel, preparing for a visit by @DonaldJTrumpJr. The Trump hotel would charge the Secret Service $5,775 (in US dollars) for their rooms.
Read 5 tweets
David Fahrenthold Profile picture
17 Sep
NEW: @realdonaldtrump’s businesses have charged the US government $1.1 million in private transactions — and Trump’s Bedminster club kept billing taxpayers for room rentals **even while it was closed** for covid. washingtonpost.com/politics/secre…
Heres the email from Trump Bedminster’s GM, announcing the club was closing for covid on 3/17/20.
And here are two bills, showing @realdonaldtrump’s club charging the Secret Service about $16,000 while the club was shuttered.
Why? Trump Org wouldn’t say.
We are still trying to prove @erictrump right! He said the Trump Org charges the US govt “like 50 bucks” for hotel rooms.

But no luck so far!
We’ve looked at 100s of bills, and not found a single one that matches Eric Trump’s claim. The rates were all higher, up to $650/night.
Read 4 tweets
David Fahrenthold Profile picture
27 Aug
We’ve spent this year asking a simple question: How much money have US taxpayers paid to @realdonaldtrump’s private business.
We still have only a partial answer, b/c the government has released so few records.
Examples:
The @DeptofDefense spent $75K at Trump properties in his first 5 months alone.
What did they spend after that? We don’t know. This is the most recent record DoD has released. It’s from June 2017.
We asked DoD for more recent records in a FOIA request. That was 183 days ago. They have provided nothing.

So our most recent data on DoD payments to Trump properties dates back to the Sean Spicer Era.
Read 6 tweets
David Fahrenthold Profile picture
14 Jul
I’ve spent this year trying to prove @realdonaldtrump’s company was telling the truth about an important promise.
So far, no luck.
.@erictrump said last year that — when US govt officials rent rooms — Trump Org charges them “like 50 bucks.”
At the time, we didn’t have many records, to know if that was true.
Now, we have lots of records.
But so far, none show what Eric T said they would.
We’ve now documented at least $970K in charges from @realdonaldtrump’s properties to the US taxpayer. (As illustrated in this elegantly powerful graph I drew). BUT...
Read 7 tweets

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