Melania Trump's One-Day Toronto Trip Cost $174,000 In Hotel Bills
Melania Trump's travel costs are once again making headlines. Her October trip to Africa included a $95,050 bill from a Cairo hotel where she didn't even spend the night. And now another short trip is coming under scrutiny.
While most of us may remember the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto as the first time Meghan Markle and Prince Harry officially appeared in public together as a couple, it was also the first time Trump and the British royal met. The First Lady was on hand to lead the U.S. delegation at the annual event for wounded veterans and also took a meeting with Harry.
Government records obtained by Quartz show that the First Lady's hotel bill totaled approximately $174,000 of taxpayer money. According to Quartz, the total does not include costs for her advance team ($18,000) or any transportation costs ($21,000).
The First Lady's itinerary for the Canadian trip shows her arriving in Toronto close to noon and back in Washington, D.C. around midnight, meaning she did not spend the night at the hotel in question.
"What I can tell you is that when the President or First Lady travels, there are people who travel ahead on the advance team to ensure safety measures, medical care, communications, motorcade needs and logistics are all in place," said Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham when asked about specific expenses by Quartz. "Mrs. Trump travels with a much smaller contingent of staff than that of her predecessors, but the entities I mentioned above are legally required for all official travel."
Maybe there's a more complicated explanation for the hefty bill, but we're quite sure that every trip FLOTUS takes going forward will be analyzed closely. And it's certainly not going to help quell criticisms that have run rampant since the "I Really Don't Care, Do U?" jacket incident.
