Trump Is Using Wife’s Secret Service Protection To Sell Condos In Trump Tower
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s business enterprise continues to ride a profit wave on the back of his election. Expensive Secret Service protection — paid for, of course, entirely by taxpayers — is the latest amenity luring buyers to his iconic midtown Trump Tower.
A real estate agent advertising residential space at Trump’s Fifth Avenue tower foamed over the new security detail in an email to buyers publicized this morning by Politico.
“Fifth Avenue Buyers Interested in Secret Service Protection?” the email reads. “The New Aminity [sic] – The United States Secret Service.”
While Trump has talked a big lot about divesting from his interests, the mogul has positioned his enterprise to benefit from both his candidacy and subsequent election. Trump cashed in on the Secret Service before, by billing taxpayers $1.6 million to fly agents on his private Boeing 757 jet. That practice stands to continue once Trump enters office, according to Vox. While Trump enjoys an upgrade to a double-deck 747 jet, Air Force One, he may continue to fly security personnel on his personal metal.
The apartment advertised alongside Secret Service protection is advertised for $2.1 million, according to The Hill.
New Yorkers, fed up with their state’s obligation to pay for security at Trump Tower, have petitioned the state to refuse a $1 million-per-day bill to provide secret service protection at the tower so that wife Melania can stay at home with child. It appears that bill also covers a security upgrade for the other 237 residential units.
Should Melania continue with plans to stay in the New York penthouse, security conscious Trump residents are sure to enjoy the abundance of highly trained men in black suits.
Trump’s use of the tower as a post-election headquarters has created a blight on the surrounding neighborhood and the city’s budget, the New York Times reported Monday. New York City Mayor Dill de Blasio Monday presented Trump’s $38 million security tab in a letter to congress, asking the U.S. government to pick up the tab for increased security at the tower. De Blasio’s request is perhaps wishful thinking, as such a refund would require (unlikely) Republican congressional approval.
