Transparency: Trump profits but no true accounting

Public records show that contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, the administration is billing the public full tariff and then some for the Secret Services rooms when staying at Trump properties. The Secret Service has not been listing their payments to Trump’s enterprises in public databases as required by law so the Washington Post compiled data from other sources. These records show $471,000 paid from January 2017 to April 2018, but that accounts for only a small sampling of Trump’s travels. (The Washington Post, February 7, 2020, by David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O’Connell, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey)

When Democrats pressed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for the records of Secret Service expenditures at Trump properties, he promised them after the 2020 election. “Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) told the Post that Trump has been ‘trying to hide the details from the public, because he knows how bad it looks. That’s the truth of it. He’s a billionaire, but we’re spending millions of dollars to support his for-profit clubs and for-profit businesses.’” (Vox, February 7, 2020, by Aaron Rupar)