Donald Trump Jr.’s trip to India in February to sell his family’s luxury high-rise apartments cost taxpayers nearly $100,000, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post.
The Freedom of Information Act reports showed that the trip cost over $97,805 for hotel rooms, airfare, car rentals, and overtime for Secret Service officers who went on the trip with him.
At the time, Trump Jr. boasted that he sold over $100 million worth of flats during the trip.
Watchdog groups have complained about the high price tag required to protect the president’s family when they are promoting the family business.
“The issue is that essentially the president still owns his businesses, and these trips are being done to make the president money” said Jordan Libowitz, the communications director for Citizens for Reponsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Essentially, the government is spending money for the president’s private businesses.”
CREW also found that the Secret Service spent $200,000 on Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s trip to the United Arab Emirates last year to open a new golf resort.
Democrats opened an investigation into the cost of the Trump family’s travel in 2017, but the House Oversight Committee told the Washington Post, they are still waiting on the results of two reports from the Government Accountability Office that focus on the president’s travel expenditures and security at Mar-a-Lago.
Chuck Young, the managing director of public affairs at the GAO said that these reports will be released in mid-December, but they will only include travel costs from 2017.
