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Democrats Ask Mattis What Trump’s Travel Actually Costs

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Democrats in Congress have asked Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to provide cost details on President Donald Trump’s travel.

The group of House members, led by Arizona Rep. Tom O’Halleran, are concerned that “the enormous cost to American taxpayers incurred over the first month of the Trump Administration” has the potential “to divert critical funds from [the Department of Defense’s] core missions,” according to a letter sent to Mattis Friday.

Citing only “recent reports from the Washington Post,” the lawmakers say Trump’s travel has cost $10 million in one month, “far exceeding the annual travel costs of his predecessor” President Barack Obama. The $10 million figure, however, drawn from a February Washington Post story,

The Washington Post reported that Trump’s travels to Mar-A-Lago, Fla., and New York City during his first month in office “have probably cost the federal treasury about $10 million,” and that “the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America’s new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials.”

No government agency has yet estimated the cost of Trump’s travel, and the Washington Post based its estimate on a Government Accountability Office report on the costs of a trip former President Barack Obama took in 2013. (RELATED: Trump’s Trip Costing Taxpayers Millions Has A Lot Of Precedent)

Obama’s three-day trip from Washington, D.C., to Florida to Illinois in February 2013 cost taxpayers around $2.8 million for Air Force One, Secret Service and other support, according to an October 2016 Government Accountability Office report.

Trump has spent four out of the seven weekends since his inauguration at what is referred to as the “Winter White House,” the Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday.

The five lawmakers requested Mattis provide a describe the extent to which “such travel expected to impact DOD resources and staff ” and provide a list of “steps will be taken to ensure that U.S. government resources remain dedicated to their intended purpose of protecting national security.”

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