Trump's Making Secret Service Go Broke With Extended Security, Family Vacations

President’s Donald Trump’s large family and multiple residences are reportedly responsible for depleting funds necessary to pay “hundreds of agents” needed to protect the family and the properties. Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles said there’s nothing to be done about the high cost of maintaining the Trump family’s security, as the Secret Service’s “responsibility is required in law.”

USA Today broke the story in a report published Monday that said “more than 1,000 agents have already hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances that were meant to last the entire year.” The report pointed to Trump’s frequent weekend travels to his respective East Coast properties — as well as the travel expenses of his adult children for business — as the reason for the depletion of Secret Service.

Speaking with USA Today, Alles revealed an unusually high number of White House associates in Trump’s orbit who require protection — up 31 from the Obama administration. According to Alles, Trump requires security for 42 people, with 18 of those individuals being members of his family.

“The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law,” Alles told USA Today. “I can't change that. I have no flexibility.”

The report noted that agents are being overworked and are required to travel constantly, and Alles said that the conditions have led to departures in the Secret Service ranks. But back pay for their work may not be possible even with congressional approval for additional funding. Per the report:

“The compensation crunch is so serious that the director has begun discussions with key lawmakers to raise the combined salary and overtime cap for agents, from $160,000 per year to $187,000 for at least the duration of Trump's first term.

“But even if such a proposal was approved, about 130 veteran agents would not be fully compensated for hundreds of hours already amassed, according to the agency.”

Trump’s frequent trips to his properties were previously revealed to be extremely costly, and the administration has been cagey about whether such trips are intended for government business or for leisure.

A report from Politico earlier this year found that the president’s trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida cost taxpayers around $3 million per trip. To date, the president has taken seven trips to the Palm Beach property since his inauguration. USA Today reported the Secret Service has been required to pay $60,000 on renting golf carts at both properties to protect the president.

According to Is Trump At Mar-a-Lago? — a website from the Center for American Progress Action Fund — the president is estimated to have cost taxpayers $32 million in trips to Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster alone.