DENVER — For the third straight weekend, President Donald Trump is in Florida at his Mar-A-Lago resort.
Because intense security follows the president and his family everywhere he goes, the natural question is how much is this costing taxpayers?
The best resource to figure this out is a report from the Government Accountability Office. It tracked similar trips by President Barack Obama.
Based on these numbers, conservative estimates put each trip to Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., at $3 million.
This includes the use of Air Force One, Secret Service expenses and the use of Coast Guard boats.
Because this is the president’s third trip, taxpayers have paid around $10 million so far in his presidency.
The other major security cost is happening in New York.
The New York Police Department estimates is is costing about $500,000 a day to secure Trump Tower, where the first lady is still living.
Combined with the Florida trips, Trump is on pace to charge taxpayers around $25 million for his first month in office. If this trend continues, the bill could be more than $300 million for the first year.
According to the conservative group Judicial Watch, during the eight years of Obama’s presidency, $97 million was billed to taxpayers.
That averages a little more than $12 million a year. When protecting Obama’s Chicago home is factored in, the total was around $18 million.