This directly contradicts President Donald Trump’s claims that his company only charges the government minimal fees or “at cost.” In an interview with Yahoo Finance in 2019, the president’s son Eric, who is executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said, “If [the president] stays at one of his places, the government actually… saves a fortune because, if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like 50 bucks.”
But that is simply not true. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property charged the government $650 per night for a room in 2017 “dozens” of times. And in 2018 they charged $396.15 per night “dozens” more times. At Trump’s New Jersey property, Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 per month (around $565 per night) for a three-bedroom cottage — double the rate for comparable properties in the area. Normally, the federal government limits spending on accommodations to $182 per night.