Three recent and lavish vacations by the first family cost taxpayers more than $6.2 million just for transportation and security, bringing the pleasure price for President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama’s trips to tens of millions of dollars since taking office, according to federal documents.
Taxpayer watchdog group Judicial Watch told Secrets that new cost calculations for security showed that the first family’s 2012-2013 vacation to Honolulu and the first lady’s 2014 ski trip to Aspen, Colo., reached nearly $1 million.
The Feds also coughed up the cost for flying the first lady to Aspen this year: $34,962.
In total, said Judicial Watch, transportation and security for the Obama’s Christmas 2012-2013 trip to Hawaii, their 2013 summer vacation to Martha’s Vineyard and her trip down the slopes last winter came in at $6,223,074.24.
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Judicial Watch, which has used the Freedom of Information Act and lawsuits to uncover Air Force travel and Secret Service security costs of presidents for years, said that since taking office, the Obamas and Vice President Joe Biden have charged taxpayers over $40 million for vacations.
“The Obamas continually abuse the public trust and raid the taxpayers’ coffers for unnecessarily luxurious and incessant vacations and travel,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“The very fact that we repeatedly must file Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits to obtain this information reveals that the ‘most transparent administration in history’ knows that its behavior is extravagant and, therefore, seeks to cover it up,” he added.
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The costs do not include the price of prepositioning security assets, helicopters and ships near the vacation and business trip sites, food, housing, or money spent for staff accommodations and travel.
The report on the high cost of the long trips comes as the Secret Service is under fire for security lapses in protecting the first family and Fitton suggested that the Obama travel schedule might have something to do with that.
“One can only imagine how this unnecessary travel saps the budget and morale of a Secret Service that cannot even secure the White House complex, and had trouble keeping the president secure even when he’s traveling on important government business,” he said.
The details from Judicial Watch:
— Secret Service security for the Obamas’ 2012-2013 Hawaii Christmas vacation cost taxpayers $566,093.09.
— Security for the Obamas’ 2013 vacation to Martha’s Vineyard cost taxpayers $371,394.85.
— Transportation for the first lady’s 2014 ski-trip in Aspen cost taxpayers $34,962.30.
— Air Force travel documents revealed that Obama incurred $5,250,624 in flight expenses alone for his 2013 vacations to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard.
Prior cost totals from Judicial Watch
— The most lavish expenditure on record was for the Obamas’ 2013 Africa trip and Honolulu vacation, which cost taxpayers $15,885,585.30 in flight expenses alone.
— The single largest expense for accommodations was for Michelle Obama’s side-trip to Dublin, Ireland, during the 2013 G-8 conference in Belfast, when she and her entourage booked 30 rooms at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel, with the first lady staying in the 1500 square-foot Princess Grace suite at a cost of $3,500 a night. The total cost to taxpayers for the Obamas’ Ireland trip was $7,921,638.66.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
