A bombshell report by Washington Post’s David Farenthold says President Trump is profiting off U.S. Secret Service funds–yes, taxpayer funds. According to Farenthold, charges to U.S. Secret Service credit cards at various Trump properties totalled more than $250,000 in the first five months of Trump’s presidency.
NEW: The Secret Service spent $250K at @realdonaldtrump‘s properties in his first 5 months in office — paying POTUS’s business ***$2,000 a day*** in taxpayer funds, new documents show.https://t.co/uz3pcc18D2
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) November 21, 2019
Crucially, Farenthold points out that during his first five months as President, Trump only visited his properties 21 times and that since then, he has done so with alarming frequency. This therefore means Secret Service spending at Trump’s properties (read payments to Trump), currently stand at a figure much higher than the quarter million cited in Farenthold’s piece.
Even though it doesn’t get enough mentions by the mainstream media, there is a domestic clause to the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause which prohibits the President from making money from government agencies both federal and state, over and above his salary. Yours Truly talked about this during the Trump Turnberry scandal where U.S. military funds were spent at Trump’s Scottish resort.
The U.S. Secret Service falls under the Department of Homeland Security which means just like we recently witnessed with the Trump Turnberry incident where the U.S. Air Force was compelled to justify their actions, someone at DHS will have to explain why Secret Service funds(taxpayer dollars) are ending up in Trump’s pockets.
Bottom line folks, as Yours Truly has said many times before, we must not remain silent in the face of Trump’s blatant corruption. If we were outraged over Trump profiting off U.S. military funds, then we should be similarly outraged at Secret Service funds being spent at Trump’s properties. A serious investigation needs to be conducted to find out the total amount of money the U.S. Secret Service has spent at Trump’s properties ever since he became President. As Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren famously says, “this is corruption, plain and simple.”
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out.
You may reach the author via email at author@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com