Trump Jr. And Kimberly Guilfoyle's Paris Trip Cost Taxpayers At Least $64,000 For Security
WASHINGTON ― Taxpayers shelled out at least $64,443 to safeguard the president’s eldest son and his girlfriend during a two-day visit to Paris in 2018 that included a stay at a $1,000-a-night hotel a few blocks from the Champs-Elysees, according to US Secret Service records.
Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a fundraiser for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, visited the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, posting photos on social media, a few months after they began a romantic relationship. According to those posts, the pair then went to Monaco for a friend’s birthday party.
Secret Service documents show that taxpayers spent $31,104 on air travel and $23,036 for hotel rooms on July 11-12, 2018, split between the Hotel de Sers and the Prince de Galles. An additional $10,303 was spent to rent three cars from an agency that offers armored vehicles.
The hotels wound up being so expensive that the agency had to seek an $8,575 “lodging variance” to make up for the overrun beyond the $14,460 estimate. The State Department’s limit for lodging costs in Paris at the time was $425 per day.
A post shared by Kimberly Guilfoyle (@kimberlyguilfoyle) on Jul 11, 2018 at 3:44pm PDT
It is unknown how many agents traveled with the pair, as that is information the agency never reveals about those it protects. Nor is it known how much more was spent in Monaco because the records covered only the France portion of the trip. There’s also no report on other charges, such as meals.
The president eldest son, who is considered a potential 2024 GOP candidate, said through a spokesperson that he needed security because of “unhinged conspiracies” about him published by “left-wing outlets.”
“He gets an astonishingly high number of death threats and though he would much prefer not to be, for his personal safety, he has no choice but to be under Secret Service protection,” Andrew Surabian said.
Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle, as well as other...
