Stephan: Everything, and I mean everything, involving Trump is a grift of some kind. I think when we have some historical perspective it will become clear that Trump and his family worked the system to make millions of dollars in profits during his administration. What I want to know is who paid the costs to use the White House as a prop. You know it took cleaners and maids, and all kinds of other staff to get the White House and the grounds ready for that violation of the Hatch Act. Did we, the taxpayers pay for a partisan political event? I'll bet we did.
Members of the Secret Service stand guard as President Trump speaks during a Christmas Eve video teleconference with members of the military at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., last year. Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president. But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late. The room was booked. Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?
“I do have a Beach Cabana available,” a staff member at President Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Fla., wrote in March 2017 to a Secret Service agent seeking rooms for the upcoming weekend. “Across the street at the Beach Club, North end of the pool.”
The next time, the Secret Service didn’t take the same risk. It paid Mar-a-Lago to book rooms for two weeks at a time — locking them up before the club could rent them to others, according to newly released records and emails.
For Trump’s club, it appeared, saying no to the Secret Service had made it a better customer. The agency was paying for rooms on […]
