Surprise: Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr. Are Still Mooching Off U.S. Taxpayers

During the four years that Donald Trump served as president, he famously ripped off taxpayers for millions of dollars by hosting official business at his properties, where the grifter incarnate made sure to bill the people for everything from golf carts to candles to water. The biggest source of income, though, seemed to come from charging the Secret Service to rent space at his own resorts; whether it was a weekend at Mar-a-Lago or an overnight at Bedminster, Trump, who claims to be “very rich,” never thought to let the individuals protecting his life stay gratis, instead forcing the government to fork over significantly more cash than what Eric Trump once claimed was “like 50 bucks” per night.

Since former presidents are given Secret Service for life, and Trump didn’t suddenly stop being a con man upon leaving office, that arrangement has obviously not changed—between January 20 and April 30, he billed the Secret Service for $40,011.15, a nice chunk of change considering he could have charged the agency nothing.

But Trump isn’t the only member of his family who is still costing taxpayers outrageous sums of money—his adult children, all of whom are a chip off the old grifter block, are too.

The Washington Post reports that thanks to the 45th president’s order, made during his last days in office, to extend 24/7 security for six months for Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Tiffany Trump, and three former officials, taxpayers have been forced to fork over $1.7 million to protect a collection of people who (1) have no role whatsoever in government and (2) can afford to protect themselves. How do the charges break down? Let’s start with Princess Purses and the Boy Prince of New Jersey:

Among the first payments the Secret Service made was to Trump’s own company. That day, the records showed, Ivanka Trump and her family left Washington for Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J.—where Ivanka Trump has a cottage on the grounds. Secret Service agents came along, and Trump’s club charged them for the rooms they used.

The bill was $708.30 for one night, the records showed. The rate appeared to be $141.66 per room, the same rate that the club charged the Secret Service while Trump was still president. In the next six months, the Secret Service spent about $347,000 on airfare, hotels, and rental cars while protecting Ivanka Trump and her husband, former White House adviser Jared Kushner, the records show. The receipts showed the pair visiting resort destinations: Hawaii, Utah ski country, an upscale Wyoming ranch, and Kiawah Island, S.C.

Agents also followed Kushner—now a private businessman—to the United Arab Emirates in May, paying $9,000 for hotel rooms, according to federal spending data posted online. The Secret Service did not say what the airfare costs were for this Kushner trip. The Daily Beast reported that the hotel was the Ritz-Carlton in Abu Dhabi, citing a government spending document that said the hotel was Kushner’s choice.

In other words, taxpayers have been, in part, footing the bill for Javanka’s vacations and for Kushner to play businessman. Spokespeople for the couple did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment, but if they had, perhaps they would have explained why taxpayers are still funding Kushner’s and Ivanka’s security details when the duo reportedly made up to $640 million while working in the White House and can surely pay for such things out of their own pockets. (Another unanswered question: Are Kushner and Ivanka now letting the Secret Service use their bathrooms, or do they still have to find a tree outside when nature calls?)

How about Ivanka’s siblings? It turns out the Trump boys cost slightly less to protect, but not by much, while Tiffany was a downright bargain.

Tiffany Trump, a recently married law school graduate, appeared to cost the least to guard. The partial records showed that, as of May, the Secret Service had spent $56,000 on airfare, rental cars, and hotels while protecting her. The costs of protecting Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were similar: $241,000 for Eric and $213,000 for Trump Jr.

The records showed that the brothers mainly shuttled between their homes in New York and South Florida, with an occasional side trip. Trump Jr. went fishing in Montana. Eric Trump—who has become the most visible leader of the Trump Organization—visited Trump hotels in Washington and Chicago. When he did, just as when his sister visited the Bedminster club, the Trump Organization charged agents who stayed in the former president’s properties: $350 for rooms in Washington, $1,415 in Chicago.

Outside of the Trump family, the former president also hooked up several of his former staffers with six extra months of Secret Service protection, courtesy of taxpayers. That group included his fourth and final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and, most gallingly, former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose tab clocked in at $479,000 and included $114,000 for rooms at a W Hotel in Los Angeles, $23,000 for rooms during business travel in Israel, and $58,000 for rooms and golf carts during three separate vacations Mnuchin took to Cabo San Lucas.

For those of you unfamiliar with the net worths of various Trump officials, Mnuchin is very, very rich and was worth an estimated $400 million as of July 2019. How did he amass such wealth? Through various sources that included his role running a lender called OneWest, which reportedly “carried out more than 36,000 foreclosures during [his] reign,” including one reportedly against a 90-year-old woman who owed the bank 30 cents but accidentally sent a check for 3.

Through a spokesman, Mnuchin told the Post that he hadn’t asked Trump to give him extra protection but chose not to decline it because “government officials advised him to maintain it.” The spokesperson claimed that Mnuchin “intends to reimburse certain expenses” that arose from his extra six months of protection, but conveniently declined to say when Mnuchin planned to do so, or how much of the tab he would pay back.

While the $1.7 million is obviously a drop in the bucket compared to the Secret Service’s $2.4 billion budget, as the Post notes, these are “wealthy adults, with no role in government, whom the agents trailed to ski vacations, weekend houses, a resort in Cabo San Lucas, and business trips abroad.”

“Who wouldn’t enjoy continuing their free limo service and easy access to restaurant tables?” Jim Helminski, a former Secret Service executive, wondered aloud. “Even if there was a credible risk to family and associates of Trump, these people are now private citizens who can afford to hire some very talented private security firms for their personal protection.”

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GOP representative quits in disgust

One of the few remaining members of the party who hasn’t signed a blood oath to Trump is over these people. Per Bloomberg:

Representative Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, announced he would not seek reelection next year rather than face a primary challenge from an opponent endorsed by the former president. Gonzalez, 36, cited the increasing responsibilities he and his wife, Elizabeth, face as parents to two children as well as turmoil within the Republican Party for his decision, in a statement posted on Twitter. “While my desire to build a fully family life is at the heart of my decision, it is also true that the current state of our politics, especially many of the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor in my decision,” Gonzalez said in the statement.

Gonzalez described Trump as a “cancer for the country” in an interview with The New York Times, where he also faulted his House Republican colleagues for hewing close to the former president and said he worried about threats to his family. The Ohio representative added that most of his political energy would be spent on making sure Trump won’t be president again. He said in his statement that he hopes “the chaotic political environment that currently infects our country will only be temporary.” Trump has endorsed former White House aide Max Miller to run against Gonzalez in the 2022 GOP primary and has vowed to defeat all the House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. 

In addition to voting to impeach Trump, Gonzalez alienated himself within the GOP by having the temerity to tell his colleagues that they need to “be on the side of truth” in order to have a shot at winning back majorities in the House and Senate, a piece of advice that was obviously a bridge too far for people who still perpetuate the lie that Trump won the 2020 election.

Judges strike down racist North Carolina voter law

Now do Texas, Georgia, and all the other “election fraud” laws passed by Republicans this year. Per The Washington Post:

A panel of North Carolina judges on Friday struck down the state’s law requiring voters to present photo identification before casting ballots, saying that the measure “was enacted in part for a discriminatory purpose” against African American voters. The ruling is the latest development in a state battle over voting rights that has drawn national attention, and it comes amid a raft of new restrictions by GOP-led state legislatures across the country, as well as an effort in Congress to restore key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The North Carolina measure, known as S.B. 824, was enacted in December 2018 after a supermajority of the state legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper (D). North Carolina voters also approved a ballot measure creating a constitutional requirement that voters present a photo ID. At the time, Cooper said the law would disenfranchise minority voters, who are less likely to possess the required identification.

In their ruling, Superior Court judges Michael O’Foghludha and Vince Rozier Jr. wrote that the lawyers defending the law failed to prove that it “would have been enacted in its present form if it did not tend to discriminate against African American voters,” adding that, “Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence.” The judges also noted that while they apparently did not find that any individual lawmaker who supported the ID law harbored “any racial animus or hatred towards African American voters,” the Republican-controlled state legislature clearly targeted such voters because they were more likely to vote for Democrats. Which definitely seems…just as fucked up.

Texas women really make a name for themselves

…as the three lunatics who allegedly beat up a New York City restaurant hostess for asking them to show proof of vaccination, as required by the law. Per NBC News:

Three people were arrested for allegedly assaulting a New York City restaurant hostess on Thursday after she asked a group of diners visiting from Texas to show proof they had been vaccinated before seating them. Cellphone footage obtained by NBC New York shows a brawl involving several people outside Carmine’s Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side. Staff and bystanders intervened to break up the melee after it broke out around 5 p.m. ET, the station added. The hostess, who has not been identified, was repeatedly punched and her necklace broken, police said.

The three suspects, whose ages are 21, 44, and 49, were taken to NYPD’s nearby 24th precinct station house, police said. The attack comes as New York City this week became the first major U.S. city to require hospitality, entertainment, and fitness businesses to ask customers for proof of vaccination to gain access to indoor venues. Any business that fails to comply could face a $1,000 fine. Carmine’s said in a statement to NBC New York that it was a “shocking and tragic situation when one of our valued employees is assaulted for doing their job—as required by city policies—and trying to make a living.”