Eye-watering amount Donald Trump's rounds of golf reportedly cost taxpayers
While Donald Trump may have criticized Barack Obama for the time he spent on the golf course during his presidency, the businessman-turned-politician spent substantially more time playing the sport.
Before running for office for the first time, Trump honed in on how many days Obama spent on the course rather thatn in the Oval Office.
He tweeted back in 2014 while Obama was president: "We pay for Obama's travel so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then we pay for his golf."
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But fast -orward to when Trump came into office, and he hardly stopped taking part in his favorite pastime.
The Trump Organization owns 18 different golf resorts across the globe, its website states, and the President frequently visits his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in particular.
There are different reports on how many times Trump frequented the golf course during his first four years in office, but figures range from 248 to 266 days, CNN reported.
In comparison, Obama played around 333 rounds during his eight years as president, according to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.
But, as Trump's aides typically refused to confirm if he was visiting his golf resorts for business or pleasure (despite being pictured in his golf attire), the amount of time he actually spent playing the sport is unknown.
Regardless, he still spent a lot of time traveling to the resorts that just so happened to have golf courses – and presidential travel isn't cheap.
In 2019, The Washington Post predicted that Trump's travel would cost taxpayers $64 million, but by October 2020, Robert Reich, author and former Labor secretary, calculated that Trump had cost taxpayers and eye-watering $141 million.
He tweeted at the time: "Once again, Trump brags about donating his $400,000 presidential salary.
"Somehow he forgot to mention that his golf trips have cost taxpayers $141,000,000."
Just one weekend spent in Scotland in 2018 cost taxpayers more than $1 million, The Committee on Oversight and Accountability Democrats reported.
Addressing this two years later, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Senator Tom Carper, and Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement: "American taxpayers should not be on the hook for President Trump's golf weekend to a property he owns as a private businessman.
"The President has consistently abused the levers of government to promote his own personal enrichment, and we are calling on him today to reimburse the American people for the more than $1 million price tag for this unnecessary and wasteful trip. This is their money—not his—and he should return it to them immediately."
It isn't thought he did so, however.
UNLAD have approached Trump's office for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, Money, Politics, Sport, Travel, US News
Niamh Shackleton