Donald Trump is far from the first president to host a Super Bowl party, and far from the first to do so outside the confines of the White House. However, the president is coming under fire for the lavish expense of his 2020 Super Bowl party, and the amount that has been funneled into his own property from taxpayer funds.
According to HuffPost analysis , taxpayers forked over about $3.4 million for the president to host a members-only Super Bowl party and a campaign event at his private, for-profit club.
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During his 2016 election campaign, President Trump promised to separate himself from his business.
At least, he promised to leave the running of the business to his family and not use his office to enrich himself, while his family pledged to stay out of politics.
Those promises have long been set aside. Shortly after his election, initiation fees at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort doubled from $100,000 to $200,000, and the president has made hundreds of trips to his own properties. Both Don Jr. and Eric Trump are actively engaged in political activities as well.
In the latest snub to those promises, members of the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach were treated to quite the party — with taxpayers footing the bill.
With tickets running $75 but available only to the Trump International Golf Club members who pay a reported $450,000 initiation fee and thousands in annual fees, the president hosted a two-and-a-half hour Super Bowl viewing party.
To make that party possible, the Secret Service had to provide security, the Air Force had to provide transport, and the Coast Guard had to patrol the waters outside the beachfront property.
Based on a Government Accountability Office report, HuffPost added up the cost of the trip to taxpayers to $3.4 million.
The campaign event portion of the party reportedly included appearances by celebrities including Stephen Baldwin, and was put on by the “Trumpettes.”
Donald Jr. and his girlfriend, Fox News personality Kim Guilfoyle were also on hand, as were Sean Hannity, Diamond and Silk, and singer Lee Greenwood performed “Proud to Be An American,” a song used prominently at Trump’s campaign rallies.
HuffPost also pointed out that, as the sole beneficiary of a trust that owns the family business, all money spent at Trump hotels and clubs goes to the president.
His most recent financial disclosure form, filed in May 2019, claimed the president received more than $12 million in income from the West Palm Beach golf course alone, which undercuts Trump’s well-publicized “sacrifice” of his annual $400,000 presidential salary while in office.
Moreover, Trump’s finances remain difficult to parse, as the president has also reneged on his campaign promise to release his tax returns.
As HuffPost noted, President Trump has told different financial stories to different governments, as in 2018 when he told the U.S. Office of Government Ethics that his Scotland properties were worth more than $50 million each, but told U.K. authorities that they had a combined debt of $65 million.
HuffPost put the taxpayers’ tab for Trump’s golf trips at a total of $130.4 million over the course of his presidency so far.
Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham defended the party in response to HuffPost’s story.
“The premise of your story is ridiculous and false,” she said, “and just more left-wing media bias on display. The president never stops working, and that includes when he is at the ‘Winter White House.'”
h/t: HuffPost , Independent
