Trump Brazenly Using Government Resources To Put Money In His Own Pocket
The convicted felon president's 'ribbon-cutting' ceremony at his golf resort was listed on the daily schedule released by the White House. When Trump gave a speech predicting it would be 'a tremendously successful place,' it was carried live by the White House YouTube channel. When he began playing a round there, his staff posted video of it in real time on social media.
'It's the very definition of corruption,' said Norm Eisen, who served as the top ethics lawyer in the Obama White House. 'Using his official position and government resources to benefit himself.'
White House officials did not respond to HuffPost's queries.
On two previous instances when Trump participated in events explicitly benefiting his own financial interests, White House staff at least publicly appeared to keep an arms-length distance, even as Trump used government resources and the imprimatur of the presidency to promote them.
On April 3, Trump spoke at a dinner for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament, a business partner of his, at his resort in Doral, Florida. Trump arrived via a Marine One helicopter after flying to Miami aboard Air Force One, but the dinner itself was 'closed press' on the daily schedule, and it was neither broadcast nor promoted by White House employees.
Similarly, on May 22, Trump spoke at a dinner at his golf course in Northern Virginia for those who had purchased the largest amounts of his crypto 'meme' coins. Trump flew there from the White House aboard Marine One, as well, but the outing was called a 'private dinner' in the daily schedule and was also not promoted or carried live by the White House.
Trump's grand-opening ceremony for the new, second golf course at his Aberdeen club on Scotland's east coast was the reason his trip took place when and where it did. While White House aides have been pointing to Trump's meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, those took place at his resort in Turnberry on Scotland's west coast and did not conflict with his time on the golf course.
The five-day trip is costing American taxpayers at least $9.7 million, not accounting for inflation, according to a HuffPost analysis, and raises Trump's total golf-related travel and security costs to $52 million in just the first six months of his second term. His golf hobby — he insists on playing at his own courses — cost taxpayers $152 million over the four years of his first term.
Trump also used his position to funnel money to his hotels, restaurants and golf courses in his first term, but has ramped up his efforts to use the presidency for his personal gain in his second term. He largely escaped legal consequences despite attempting a coup to remain in power in 2021 and then refusing to return classified documents he took with him to his Palm Beach country club, flouting a grand jury subpoena demanding them.
Federal prosecutors charged Trump with multiple felonies in both cases, but the prosecutions were dropped after he won back the presidency in November, thanks to a longstanding Department of Justice policy not to prosecute a sitting president.
Trump was convicted of felonies in a New York state case for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush-money payment to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sent to federal prison in part for his conviction on a federal charge on the same underlying set of facts, but Trump received no jail time or even a fine, based on his impending return to the presidency.
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