Tiffany Trump's Cannes Film Festival Trip Cost Taxpayers at Least $20,000
Tiffany Trump‘s three-night trip to France last weekend to attend the Cannes Film Festival with boyfriend Michael Boulos cost taxpayers nearly $20,000, government spending records show.
According to USASpending.gov, which tracks government spending, $19,213 was paid for Tiffany and her security team to stay at the Marriott Jesta Fontainebleau from May 17 to May 20. (The story was first reported by Quartz.)
That figure, however, does not include airfare, overtime or per diem costs paid by the federal government.
The White House has not yet responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
A Secret Service spokesperson, Julia McMurray, told Quartz: “For operational security reasons, the Secret Service cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means, methods, resources, costs, or numbers we utilize to carry out our protective responsibilities.”
While President Trump is in office, she and the rest of Trump’s immediate family are allowed a security team, as well as the funds required to lodge and transport them.
Early this year, Tiffany Trump and her team visited Serbia and racked up approximately $23,000 in hotel bills, according to Quartz. Her sister and brother-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, have also taken trips with hefty price tags.
A report from the Government Accountability Office revealed that the Secret Service spent nearly $400,000 while traveling with Don Jr. and Eric during trips in the early months of 2017, according to NPR.
A post shared by Tiffany Ariana Trump (@tiffanytrump) on May 21, 2019 at 10:27am PDT
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The same report disclosed that four of President Trump’s trips to his resort, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, cost taxpayers $13.6 million, or some $3.4 million each, NPR reports.
The report, which was ordered by Democrats in congress, also revealed that the resort was paid $60,000, most of which went towards lodging for the president’s security detail, per the outlet. Such expenses have caused alarm among Democrats and watchdog groups since the beginning of the Trump administration.
“No matter what else is happening in the world, [the president] is treated like royalty at Mar-a-Lago,” a club source told PEOPLE in February 2019, about President Trump’s visits to his beloved resort. “He loves to be here.”
