WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump is leaving Friday for another million-dollar golf weekend at his New Jersey course, where he will also host a fundraiser that will convert Republican Party money into his own personal money.
The trip will be Trump’s 17th visit to his resort 45 miles west of New York City since taking office, with each costing taxpayers at least $1.1 million in travel and security costs. The trip will bring his taxpayer-paid golf tab to $109.2 million.
With a planned return on Sunday, Trump will add another three days to the time he has spent at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, bringing his tally there to 64 days and his total time at golf courses that he owns to 194 days. (Trump has golfed twice at courses in Japan at the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his visits there.)
Heading into Friday, Trump had spent 62 days at his course in Northern Virginia, 61 days at Bedminster and 57 days at his resort in West Palm Beach. He has also visited his courses in Los Angeles; Doral, Florida; Jupiter, Florida; Scotland and Ireland ― all on the taxpayer dime.
The fundraiser at Bedminster, meanwhile, is set for Friday evening and is expected to bring in some $3 million to Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. The Trump Organization, Trump’s family business that operates his properties, did not respond to HuffPost queries asking how much Bedminster would be paid for hosting the event.
Because Trump still owns his business – despite campaign promises that he would separate himself from it – a portion of that revenue will wind up in Trump’s personal bank account.
In March, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club hosted a fundraising dinner and lunch, for which the RNC and the Trump campaign jointly paid the Palm Beach, Florida, resort $214,944, according to Federal Election Commission records. In June, the RNC hosted a fundraiser at Trump’s Doral golf resort near the Miami airport, for which it paid $ $84,822 in advance. The remainder of the fee, if any, will likely be reported on the RNC filing that is due to the FEC on Saturday.
During Trump’s first two years in office, the RNC spent a total of $1.3 million at Trump properties. The Trump campaign spent another $1.6 million, and 117 other Republican candidates and committees spent at least another $1.4 million, according to a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.