Despite constant criticisms of ex-President Barack Obama’s golfing habits, President Donald Trump has been to one of his organization’s golf courses 13 times since taking office nine weeks ago. Of his first 66 days in office, Trump spent a full three weeks at resort properties bearing his family name, and the White House has been tight-lipped about exactly what goes on when Trump is visiting and how much its costing taxpayers. Just because he’s at one of the golf courses owned by the Trump Organization doesn’t mean he’s playing golf, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a March 20 briefing.
“Just because you go somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean you did it. So on a couple of occasions, he’s actually conducted meetings there, he’s actually had phone calls. So just because he heads there, it doesn’t mean that that’s what’s happening,” Spicer said.
Trump sent repeated tweets and spoke of the cost of Obama’s golf ventures while on the campaign trail, but seems to have changed his tune now that he’s in office.
Trump today made his 11th trip a Trump-owned golf course in 8 weeks as president.
Here are his previous tweets about presidents and golf: pic.twitter.com/bSINMTc4Mh
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 19, 2017
Though Trump likely didn’t hit the links Sunday during a visit to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia,the president has played at least a couple holes on 12 occasions, the Washington Post reported. TheTrump Organization owns or operates 17 golf courses around the world, including 12 in the U.S., two in Dubai, one in Ireland and two in Scotland, according to theGolf News Network. One of the U.S. golf courses is near the Mar-a-Lago private club in West Palm Beach, where Trump plays most of his golf. He’s visited the golf club in Sterling three times this month.
Trump owns three properties in Florida: Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
He’s spent five weekends down at the “Winter White House” – the president’s name for his Mar-a-Lago estate – since taking the oath of office on Jan. 20.
While day trips to Trump’s Virginia golf course and his Washington-based Trump International Hotel likely aren’t breaking the bank, Politico estimatesTrump’s weekend jaunts to Florida could be costing taxpayers upwards of $3 millionper trip – for a total of at least $15 million. Politico came up with this price tag based on an expense report from a 2013 trip made by President Obama. The trip, which included a stop in Palm Beach, cost $3.6 million, $3.2 million on flying alone. Critics are calling out the Trump Administration for its overt spending on golf excursions and for the cost of security for First Lady Melania Trump and the couple’s 10-year-old son, Baron, as they finish out the school year at Trump Tower in New York. This could be costing as much as $145,000 per day, according The Washington Post.
