Twitter Is Furious As Trump Depletes Secret Service Funds With Frequent Travels

As news broke Monday that President Donald Trump had depleted the funds of the Secret Service with his frequent travels, tax payers, especially on Twitter, were outraged.

According to a USA Today report, the federal law enforcement agency, entrusted with the protection of the president, cannot afford to pay hundreds of agents it employs to carry out its protective missions. One of the major factors being the number of people in Trump's family the service needs to protect and the resources needed to provide protection for all the president's residences on the East Coast.

The director of the organization, Randolph “Tex” Alles, also told USA Today that its agents were burdened by Trump family's frequent travels and vacations and the workload it entailed.

The agency's expenses since Trump's inauguration included seven trips to Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, five visits to his gold club in Bedminster and a trip to Trump Tower in Manhattan.

While Trump's vacations have been frowned upon earlier, the criticism escalated after the report Monday, with Twitter providing the platform for users to rip into Trump.

The report also said the Secret Service had spent around $60,000 on golf cart rentals this year as part of protection protocol for Trump at both Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, while he was on one of his many golfing trips. Twitterati called him out, saying it was ridiculous that tax payers were paying for Trump to play golf.

Trump's tweets when Barack Obama was the president, saying the latter should cut down on his travel as it involved a lot of tax payers' money, were dug up and the president was called out for his hypocrisy.

The agency is currently maintaining a watch over 42 protectees related to Trump, said reports. This is an increase from the 31 protectees during the Obama administration.

It is estimated that it costs $3 million for security during every visit of the president to Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida, apart from the rentals paid for golf carts. The federal organization also spent nearly $100,000 on hotels during a business trip of the president's son, Eric Trump, in Uruguay. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were also accompanied by the Secret Service during their ski holiday in Aspen, Colorado earlier this year.

“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.’’

Talking about the agents, he added: "We have them working all night long; we're sending them on the road all of the time."There are no quick fixes, but over the long term, I've got to give them a better balance (of work and private life) here."

Allen also warned that without additional funding the agency would not even be able to pay agents for the work they have already done. The director has already approached lawmakers with a proposal to raise the salary and overtime cap for the agents and also recruit more men into the service.