Donald Trump has charged Secret Service over $10,000 for security at Bedminster resort

• Since he left office, the Secret Service has paid more than $50,000 to Trump-affiliated businesses.
• The Trump Organization was paid nearly $2.5 million in taxpayer funds during his first term.

WASHINGTON — The Secret Service was charged almost $10,200 for guest rooms agents used for several dates in May at former President Donald Trump's New Jersey golf club, according to records obtained by the Washington Post.

The recent findings are in line with a pattern of Trump and his close associates charging the government for its protective services. Since Trump left office, the Secret Service has paid more than $50,000 to Trump-affiliated businesses and resorts, according to the Post.

Trump's office moved in May to New Jersey after his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, closed for the summer.

In 2017, Trump cost the Secret Service at least $137,505 for golf cart rentals at his golf clubs in New Jersey and Florida, according to a USA TODAY investigation. In the first year of Trump's term, the Secret Service was forced to stop paying many of its agents due to depleted funds brought on by the high costs of his travel and family protection.

In May, the Post reported that Trump has charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 to conduct security at his resort in Mar-a-Lago since leaving office on Jan. 20.

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Taxpayers routinely paid Trump properties 

Other Trump properties around the world have also taken in large sums of taxpayer money for various reasons. 

In 2020, the Secret Service was charged nearly $1 million for its security expenses while staying at Trump's Scotland resort. Trump's children have also cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands in security costs, including at least $230,000 in security incurred by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. during a trip to the United Arab Emirates in February 2017.

Throughout his presidency, Trump used his resorts as meeting grounds for foreign leaders and political allies, as well as powerful donors and lobbyists.

The Trump Organization was paid nearly $2.5 million in taxpayer funds during his first term, according to the Post. Political groups like Trump's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee also gave tens of millions to Trump properties.

His frequent use of private, nonsecure locations for official business caused many advocacy organizations to raise concerns about lax security on sensitive intelligence and rampant influence peddling in the administration.

The former president has said the Bedminster, N.J., golf club, which the Trump team used as the coordination site for his presidential transition team, is a good location for coordinating business because it costs less to operate out of than New York.

“I have a place there that costs almost nothing because it’s hundreds of acres and security, and they don’t have to close up streets," Trump said during a 2017 Fox News interview about his reasoning for staying at Bedminster. 

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.