Trump properties got almost $2 million from the Secret Service, including stays at Mar-a-Lago, documents show

• The Secret Service has spent at least $1.75 million at Trump properties, new documents show.
• The spending started after Trump became the GOP nominee in 2016.

The Secret Service has spent at least $1.75 million staying at Trump properties to protect the former president and his family, according to newly available government records.

The Secret Service spent at least $850,000 at former President Donald Trump's golf properties, $400,000 at Trump hotels, and $300,000 at Mar-a-Lago, according to the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which acquired the documents through public-records requests.

Trump lives at the members-only waterfront club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, though he often leaves Florida for his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during the summer months.

During Trump's time in office, he and his family traveled to Mar-a-Lago at least 146 times, according to CREW. Trump often called Mar-a-Lago the "Winter White House."

Mar-a-Lago charges the Secret Service $396.15 a night to rent a room, The Washington Post previously reported. Officers also need spaces for meetings and equipment.

Some of the Secret Service spending CREW reported on started in 2016, shortly after Trump became the Republican presidential nominee. It continues into Trump's post-presidential life but doesn't include 2022 spending, CREW said.

Trump "was using the trips to line his pockets with taxpayer money via his Secret Service protection," CREW said in an online post.

Outside government-ethics groups have long raised concerns about ways in which Trump could use his presidency to benefit the Trump Organization and enrich himself. Trump continued to own his businesses throughout his presidency but asked his sons to run them.

Trump's post-presidential team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CREW estimated the total amount that went to the Trump Organization was closer to $2 million. The organization will post the documents in the coming days, Jenna Grande, a CREW spokesperson, said.

The $1.75 million is specifically tied to spending on Trump properties, so it doesn't include the spending on other hotels in the surrounding areas or on car rentals and meals purchased elsewhere.

It's not uncommon for the Secret Service to spend millions of dollars to protect current or former presidents. Former presidents get Secret Service protection until they die unless they decline the service. The difference with Trump is that the Secret Service's spending stands to personally and significantly enrich Trump and his family.

President Joe Biden's trips to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, cost the government at least $3 million in hotel stays and car rentals during the president's first 43 weeks in office, according to documents obtained by the conservative organization Judicial Watch that the New York Post made public.

Before becoming president, Biden charged the Secret Service $2,200 a month to stay in a cottage on his property. In total, Biden received $171,600 between 2011 and 2017, when he was vice president, The Washington Post reported.