WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump skipped the return of the stays of 4 troopers who died in a coaching train to Dover Air Pressure Base on Friday and as a substitute spent thousands and thousands of taxpayer {dollars} to attend a dinner for certainly one of his enterprise pursuits and to play golf.
The our bodies of the 4 members of the Military’s third Infantry Division — Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California; Workers Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan; and Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam ― had been returned to Delaware for his or her “dignified transfer” ceremony Friday morning. They died when their 70-ton armored M88 towing automobile sank in a bathroom in Lithuania final week.
Whereas the ceremony passed off on the Air Pressure base tarmac, Trump was 900 miles south at his golf course in West Palm Seashore, Florida, throughout the Intracoastal Waterway from his Palm Seashore nation membership.
A Trump administration official, on situation of anonymity, mentioned that “the families requested no media at the transfer” and that the “White House is respecting their request for privacy today and has been working on correspondence to the families.”
Nevertheless, presidents previously have attended dignified transfers whereas their accompanying press swimming pools have been held in a location away from the ceremony. The White Home didn’t reply to a question about why that didn’t occur on this case.
Joe Raedle through Getty Pictures
Whereas Trump usually goes to Florida for his $3.4 million golf weekends on Fridays, he traveled a day early this week to attend a closed-door dinner at his Doral golf resort for the Saudi LIV tour, certainly one of his enterprise companions that holds occasions at his programs.
This journey, although, will price taxpayers at the least $4.2 million due to the detour to Miami Worldwide Airport, which is positioned simply two miles east of Trump’s Doral resort. Trump however took a Marine helicopter to fly to the golf course and again fairly than experience in his motorcade.
Friday was Trump’s sixteenth day of golf on the West Palm course and his twentieth day at certainly one of his programs since taking workplace Jan. 20, that means that as of Friday, he has performed golf on 27% of his days in workplace in his second time period. The whole price to taxpayers for transporting him and his safety equipment to and from these venues these previous 11 weeks is now $30.4 million, in accordance with a HuffPost evaluation.
Trump, who underneath the Structure’s “emoluments clause” shouldn’t be permitted to simply accept funds aside from his official wage, has however been utilizing his official place to assist the LIV tour. In February, days after returning to workplace, he hosted the pinnacle of the Skilled Golf Affiliation within the Oval Workplace, from the place he participated on a convention name with the pinnacle of the LIV tour. Trump has been open about making an attempt to get the 2 rival golf organizations to merge, which, if it occurs, would enhance LIV and subsequently himself.
We Do not Work For Billionaires. We Work For You.
Already contributed? Log in to cover these messages.
LIV has since its inception used Trump’s programs for its tournaments and is holding its fourth such event at Doral this weekend. The Trump Group, the umbrella firm for Trump’s numerous enterprise pursuits, didn’t reply to HuffPost queries about how a lot LIV has paid for using the golf programs.
That Trump would put his private funds and his golf passion forward of honoring U.S. service members, whereas uncommon for a president, is in character together with his earlier therapy of the navy. Trump famously refused to exit within the rain for a ceremony honoring U.S. Marines who died in WWI throughout the 100-year anniversary of Armistice Day in France. His personal chief of employees on the time confirmed that Trump known as service members who died for america “suckers” and “losers.”
