Melania Trump’s Visit To A Posh Egypt Hotel Cost Taxpayers $95,000 — Even Though She Didn’t Stay The Night
Melania Trump’s visit to a posh hotel in Egypt came at a cost of $95,000 — even though she didn’t end up sending the night.
The First Lady stayed at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis during her visit to the African nation last month, and newly released data shows that the visit came at a cost to taxpayers of just under $100,000, the Washington Examiner reported.
It was not clear exactly where all the expenses went. The report noted that the government released a sheet of the costs but did not say how the money at the hotel was spent. Melania’s trip was funded by the U.S. State Department.
The visit has generated criticism by many on the left, with some pointing out that Donald Trump frequently criticized Barack and Michelle Obama for travel costs and vowed to cut down on his as president.
The taxpayer costs incurred by Melania Trump have long been a contentious issue. In the months after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Melania chose to remain in New York City while their son, Barron, completed his school year.
An early 2018 report from Business Insider found that security costs for Melania to remain at Trump Tower topped $100,000 per day. The report also found that in just the first three months of Donald Trump’s presidency, Melania took a total of 21 flights aboard Air Force jets that came at a taxpayer cost of $676,635. The total, which was published in The Wall Street Journal, amounted to double the amount that Michelle Obama spent on flights every year.
"And she didn’t even stay the night there. It’s difficult to imagine spending that kind of money in a fourth of a day." https://t.co/JroRfp5rJ0
— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) November 2, 2018
As Business Insider noted, most of the flights Melania took during that period were of a personal nature.
“Although the records request only covers three months of this period, Melania still racked up quite a tab, taking flights between New York, Washington, DC, and Palm Beach, Florida, where she would fly to spend downtime in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.”
Melania Trump stirred up other criticism during her trip to Africa. The trip was meant to allow Melania to visit U.S.-funded humanitarian programs, but many of the headlines focused on the controversy the First Lady generated along the way. During a visit to Kenya, she wore a colonial-style outfit commonly associated with the European colonizers and military that once oppressed the Kenyan people. Later, in an interview while she was in Egypt, Melania Trump declared that she was “the most bullied person in the world” due to the criticism she has faced.
