White House Furnishing Cost: Trump Spent $133K Of Tax-Payer Money For Decor, Report Says

Donald Trump has spent about $133,000 of tax money on furniture in the White House between January and May, according to a report by the Hill.

One of the most expensive purchases on Trump’s list was a $13,000 custom conference table made by Kittinger Company. The report also said that, former President Richard Nixon too, had a table made by the same company but had paid for it himself. All the purchases made by Trump were either office furniture or floor coverings. This puts Trump’s expenditure at twice the amount spent by his predecessor Barack Obama who shelled out $51,000 during the same period, although White House records also showed that Obama spent a greater amount in the later months.

Read: Melania Trump Moving Into White House: 5 Facts To Know About The First Lady Move To Washington, DC

While the gap between the expenditures of Trump and Obama is thinner due to this, the expenditure is thought to go up as first lady Melania Trump and Baron Trump complete their move into the White House. Melania announced in February she had selected an interior designer, Tham Kannalikham, to decorate the family's private living quarters in the White House — more than a dozen rooms — a job that is quite possibly complete, CNN reported.

The reports about thousands of dollars of tax-payers' money spent on furnishing in the span of a few months come in the light of severe criticism already faced by the president for how much his frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago, his private Palm Beach club, his golfing club and vacations are costing the tax coffers. According to CNN, Trump had already spent $20 million into the first 80 days of his tenure. Obama, by contrast, spent just under $97 million on travel in his eight years as president.

Read: Trump's First 100 Days Vacation Costs: President's Mar-a-Lago Trips Outpace Obama's Travel

Trump spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago in the first ten weeks after taking office. It is estimated each of those trips cost at least $3 million, covering the president’s extensive security detail. While Obama’s travel expense averaged $12.1 million a year, Trump is reported to have spent $10 million on three golfing holidays in one month.

The president has built himself a reputation of doing the same things he had previously criticized Obama for, and doing them on a larger scale. Taking to twitter, he had disapproved of Obama’s vacations and golfing trips.

Melania Trump continued living at Trump Tower in New York while Barron Trump, 11, finished the academic year at his school. Her decision to stay in New York had been panned for costing significant taxpayer money, even leading to a petition demanding she move to the White House.

It still remains to be seen whether Melania’s move into the White House would see more changes being made to the interior and décor and if more money would be spent on the refurbishing.

Trump has already made significant changes to the West Wing décor, removing a rug from the Obama era that featured quotes from leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. and four former presidents. It was replaced with a carpet from the George W. Bush era. He also brought back a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill into the office.