Trump administration spent eye-watering sum on Mar-a-Lago bar tab at taxpayers’ expense
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics
Ben Williams
Featured Image Credit: (Al Drago/Getty Images)
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics
Donald Trump’s administration reportedly picked up a drinks bill at Mar-a-Lago after a private gathering during a major diplomatic visit.
The alleged spending emerged in an investigation by Trump, Inc., a WNYC Studios and ProPublica podcast, which examined the relationship between presidential access, government money, and private profit at Trump’s Palm Beach club.
It centred on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s April 2017 visit to Mar-a-Lago, where President Trump and his advisers hosted a two-day summit.
While Xi and his delegation stayed at a nearby hotel, Trump and several of his advisers remained at the estate, which is both his private club and a resort.
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The formal dinner included Dover sole and New York strip steak, but it was what allegedly happened later that raised eyebrows.
Reported by WNYC Studios, according to an email written by Mar-a-Lago’s catering director, Brooke Watson — a group later went to the club’s Library Bar and asked the bartender to leave so it ‘could speak confidentially’.
The Secret Service reportedly guarded the door, while the bartender was not allowed to return.
Members of the group then allegedly began pouring themselves drinks without paying at the time.
Six days later, Mar-a-Lago created a bill for $838 worth of alcohol, plus a 20 percent service charge, bringing the total to just over $1,000.
The bill reportedly covered 54 drinks, with the average drink working out at $18.62.
The premium liquor listed included Chopin vodka, Patron and Don Julio Blanco tequilas, and Woodford Reserve bourbon.
The report said the bill was first sent to the State Department, which objected to paying it, before it was forwarded to the White House. The White House then paid the tab.
Watson’s email did not state exactly how many people drank the alcohol or who all of the people present were. It said she ‘was told’ the group included then-strategist Steve Bannon and then-deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin.
Bannon, who has previously said he stopped drinking years ago, told the outlet he did not drink at Mar-a-Lago and did not recall the incident. Hagin did not respond to requests for comment.
The report noted that the bar bill was just one part of wider government spending at Mar-a-Lago, revealed through hundreds of pages of receipts and emails between Trump Organization employees and State Department staff.
It also claimed Trump’s resort charged the government the maximum permitted federal rate for rooms, which worked out to $546 per night.
The State Department had reportedly proposed a $200,000 contract to cover room costs for federal employees staying at Mar-a-Lago across Trump’s first term, but the club rejected the arrangement.
Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, said: “Mar-a-Lago wanted to have the government money without the government rules.”
Mar-a-Lago and the Trump Organization did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment at the time.
The report also said the White House declined to comment on whether anyone who drank during the Library Bar gathering was asked to reimburse the government.
Federal rules allow for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tips, and taxes under per diem expenses, but specifically exclude alcoholic drinks for individual government employees.
According to the report, federal spending rules do not specifically address agency-level alcohol purchases directly invoiced to the government, as happened with the Mar-a-Lago bar tab.