Trump's family members cost US taxpayers more than $140,000 in the month after he left office, records show

• Trump's children cost US taxpayers nearly $141,000 in the four weeks after he left office.

• The watchdog group CREW obtained records showing the cost for Secret Service protection for Trump's family.

• The records don't include charges at Trump properties, meaning the actual cost to taxpayers is likely higher.

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Before he left office, President Donald Trump took the unusual step of extending Secret Service protection for his four adult children for six months after he was out of the White House.

In the first four weeks after he left office, that protection cost US taxpayers nearly $141,000, showed records obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

From January 21 to February 21, taxpayers shelled out $140,975.14 to pay for the Secret Service detail for Trump's adult children. CREW said the transportation costs were $52,296.75, while hotel costs were close to $90,000.

The group said the records do not cover Secret Service costs at Trump properties, where the former president and his children frequently spend their time. That indicates that the actual cost to taxpayers since Trump left office may be much higher than what's included in the documents CREW obtained.

Trump and his family members often made headlines while he was in office for their lavish lifestyle and frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago and other Trump golf clubs on taxpayers' dime.

In October, The Washington Post reported that Trump properties had raked in more than $8 million since he took office in January 2017.

After Trump became president, foreign countries with embassies in Washington, DC, began hosting parties and events at his properties in what ethics experts said was a bid to curry favor with the president.

In December 2018, The Post reported that Saudi-funded lobbyists rented 500 rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, shortly after the 2016 election. They spent more than $270,000 for the rooms, the report said.

The Republican National Committee also spent nearly $2 million at Trump Organization hotels and resorts during his presidency. And Trump's campaign, which was funded in part by donations from the president's supporters and big-dollar donors, has spent more than $14 million at his properties.

Meanwhile, Trump's repeated efforts to overturn the results of the election cost the taxpayers $519 million, The Post found.

Read the original article on Business Insider