Why questions surround Donald Trump’s Turnberry bill for Secret Service

For the past seven years, ethics watchdogs have been aghast at how Mr Trump has been able to charge the agency for protecting him while he stays at his own properties.

There were more than 500 such trips during his single term in office, with the Secret Service paying around £1.1 million. Thanks to the fact Mr Trump continues to receive protection, that bill continues to climb.

If the latest payments to Turnberry seem modest, context is important. As president, Mr Trump spent two nights at Turnberry in July 2018, accompanied by a large Secret Service detail and a larger entourage than the team that accompanied him in May. In other words, it would not be unreasonable to expect a large bill.

Yet official spending records published in 2020 by the Office of Inspector General for the US Department of Homeland Security showed that while the total Secret Service operation in 2018 cost $855,575 [£674,612], it only spent $9,662 [£7,618] at Turnberry directly. Of that, just $5,935 [£4,679] went on rooms, with the remainder made up of golf cart rentals and other miscellaneous spending.

Which raises a significant question that cannot be explained by inflation alone.

Given Mr Trump had a smaller personal protection detail on his most recent visit, and only spent one night at Turnberry, why was the Secret Service bill almost double what was spent in 2018? Only the Trump Organisation and the Secret Service can answer that.

As revealed in The Scotsman’s story today, there may be a clue.

One Secret Service document shows the agency submitted what is known as a “lodging variance request” – in layman’s terms, a waiver to approve payments that exceed US government approved room rates.

There have been dozens of examples of such requests at Mr Trump’s US properties, where the rate has been as high as $1,185 (£934) per room per night.

But this marks the first time one has been identified in connection with one of his international resorts.