Trump has profited off the presidency on his frequent trips to his properties. The Trump Organization has claimed that it lets Trump and his entourage stay at his properties for “like 50 bucks,” but new reporting from the Washington Post confirms that’s a lie.

Key Points:

The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service outrageous rates as high as $650 per night, which taxpayers ultimately foot the bill for.

“President Trump’s company charges the Secret Service for the rooms agents use while protecting him at his luxury properties — billing U.S. taxpayers at rates as high as $650 per night, according to federal records and people who have seen receipts.”

These records show the Trump Organization and Eric Trump lied when they claimed that Trump and his entourage stay at his properties for “like 50 bucks.”

“‘If he stays at one of his places, the government actually . . . saves a fortune because, if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like 50 bucks,’ Eric Trump said.”

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort charged taxpayers more than triple the normal limit for a hotel room in the area, even when Trump wasn’t there.

“At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 rate dozens of times in 2017… That was more than triple the normal limit on federal spending for a hotel room in that area, which was $182. It was even more than what the State Department paid for rooms at Mar-a-Lago around the same time, which was $520 to $546.”

In addition, Trump’s Bedminster golf club charged taxpayers $17,000 a month for a cottage when Trump was only there a third of the time.

“And at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 a month to use a three-bedroom cottage on the property, an unusually high rent for homes in that area, according to receipts from 2017. Trump’s company billed the government even for days when Trump wasn’t there… In Bedminster, records show, the Secret Service went further: It paid not by the day — but for a whole month at a time. The Secret Service rented the club’s ‘Sarazen Cottage,’ a three-bedroom building near Trump’s own villa, from July 1 to Oct. 1, 2017.”