The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service “exorbitant interest rates” — more than $1.4 million over four years — to protect the former president and his family in properties they owned, according to documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday.   

  The panel found that the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service “excessive overnight fees on dozens of trips” of up to $1,185 per night despite claims by the former President’s company that federal employees traveling with him would stay in those accommodations “for free.” or “at cost.”   

  “The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for the former President’s businesses Trump,” said the chairwoman of the committee.  , New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney wrote in a letter to the agency’s director on Monday.   

  When he was president, Trump frequently traveled to properties managed by his company, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.  While there, some agents and officers stayed in rooms at these properties, although others rented rooms in nearby hotels.   

  Charging his protege to stay at his own properties was a controversial practice when Trump was in office and has continued into his post-presidential tenure.   

  Maloney also notes that her committee has been seeking a full accounting of Secret Service spending on properties owned by Trump for more than two years, but has yet to receive complete information on nightly rates or the total amount spent by the agency, which “appears to exceed $1.4 million of taxpayers’ money.”   

  The committee is still seeking records from the Secret Service, noting that the committee is considering potential legislation to prevent “presidential self-serving and profiteering, and to limit conflicts of interest by ensuring that future presidents do not exercise undue influence over Secret Service spending.” »   

  In a statement, Eric Trump said that “any services provided to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies” at Trump-owned hotels “were at their request and were provided either at cost, at a deep discount or for free.   

  The committee said the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service more than the federal rate at least 40 times from January 2017 to September 2021.   

  One such time was in March 2017, when the Trump Organization charged $1,160 a night to stay at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC, to protect Eric Trump, who was promoting a golf tournament at the Trump National Golf Club .  According to the General Services Administration website, the wage was $242 in March 2017 in Washington, DC.   

  In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency had received the letter from the committee, but did not discuss specifics.   

  “Protecting our proteges is part of the agency’s zero-failure mission and our absolute highest priority.  Protective details must always be on the ground 24 hours a day, and that requires us to travel where they travel,” Guglielmi said.   

  This story has been updated with additional details.