Corruption

Taxpayers Have Covered Trump Staff Bar Tabs

Written by SK Ashby

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in April of 2017, Trump and Jinping's collective entourage spent a significant amount of money on food and drinks as you would expect during an official state visit, but Trump's staffers went much further than that according to documents reviewed by the bipartisan watchdog Pro Publica.

Receipts and records reviewed by Pro Publica show that, at one point during President Jinping's visit, Trump's staffers literally walked out without paying their bill after helping themselves to expensive liquor while the bartender was out of the room.

Because Trump's staffers didn't pay their bill, Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort billed taxpayers for it.

At some point later that evening, a group repaired to Mar-a-Lago’s Library Bar, a wood-paneled study with a portrait of Trump in tennis whites (titled “The Visionary”) hanging nearby. The group asked the bartender to leave the room so it “could speak confidentially,” according to an email written by Mar-a-Lago’s catering director, Brooke Watson.

The Secret Service guarded the door, according to the email. The bartender wasn’t allowed to return. And members of the group began pouring themselves drinks. No one paid.

Six days later, on April 13, Mar-a-Lago created a bill for those drinks, tallying $838 worth of alcohol plus a 20% service charge. It covered 54 drinks (making for an average price of $18.62 each) of premium liquor: Chopin vodka, Patron and Don Julio Blanco tequilas and Woodford Reserve bourbon. [...]

The bill was sent to the State Department, which objected to covering it. It was then forwarded to the White House, which paid the tab.

In other words, the White House more or less sent money directly to Trump to cover his staffers' tab since Trump owns the Mar-a-Lago.

This is just one incident detailed by records reviewed by Pro Publica, but it seems entirely reasonable to me to assume this -- and perhaps even worse things -- have happened without us knowing about it.

I necessarily assume that Trump, his staff, his campaign, and virtually his entire cabinet and regime are ripping off taxpayers on a daily basis.

I don't think we'll learn the full extent of Trump's corruption until he's out of office and a more responsible administration has a chance to look at the books.