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Donald Trump‘s golf outings have cost taxpayers at least $102 million in extra travel and security expenses, a new analysis shows.
TheHuffPostanalysis,which uses figures from theGovernment Accountability Office, shows that $81 million of taxpayer money has been spent on the President’s two dozen golfing trips to Florida, $17 million has been spent on his 15 trips to golf in New Jersey, and $1 million has been spent at his golf resort in Los Angeles.
In addition, $3 million went towards his two-day trip to Scotland last summer, $1.3 million of which was just for the rental cars for those that joined him for the trip.
The $102 million is, according to the analysis, 255 times the annual presidential salary Trump volunteered not to take upon winning the election. It is also three times the cost of Robert Muller’s investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to theHuffPostanalysis.
Donald Trump.Mike Roemer/AP/REX/Shutterstock
The White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“Because Trump continues to profit from these businesses … a portion of that taxpayer money ends up in Trump’s own pocket,” they added.
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“As Trump promotes his golf courses through taxpayer-financed visits to his clubs, it’s an extra benefit for him that his properties are able to scoop up some taxpayer money directly,” Robert Weissman, president of the group Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer rights group, toldHuffPost.
Before he became President, Trump repeatedly criticized PresidentBarack Obamafor golfing.
“I play golf to relax: My company is in great shape.Barack Obamaplays golf to escape work while America goes down the drain,” Trump tweeted in 2014.
source: people.com
