What have watchdog groups like CREW and OpenSecrets documented about payments to Trump properties since 2017 and through 2025?
Executive summary
Watchdog groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and OpenSecrets have documented recurring flows of public and political money to Trump-owned properties since 2017, highlighting Secret Service and campaign/inaugural expenditures and creating databases to track payments amid incomplete records and limited transparency [1] [2]. Both organizations say documented totals are substantial but partial: OpenSecrets has cataloged millions in campaign and inaugural spending at Trump properties, while CREW’s FOIA-based analyses show nearly $2 million in Secret Service spending through 2023 and additional documented outlays into 2025 [3] [1] [4].
1. What OpenSecrets has cataloged: political and inaugural spending concentrated at Trump properties
OpenSecrets built a running tracker of payments to Trump properties from campaign, party and outside groups and reports that political spending at Trump-owned properties reached at least $20 million by 2019, with nearly $17 million coming from Trump-affiliated committees, and notes that the phenomenon spiked after Trump’s 2016 bid [3] [2]. OpenSecrets also highlighted that Trump-related inaugural activity brought in $251.4 million in 2025 — a 142 percent increase from 2017 — and uses financial disclosures and transaction reports to document campaigns, party committees and other actors spending at Trump venues [5] [6]. OpenSecrets frames these patterns as a new form of influence-buying and “presidential profiteering,” emphasizing that keeping assets under family control creates opportunities for direct payments tied to public office [2].
2. CREW’s FOIA work: Secret Service and other federal spending to Trump businesses
CREW used Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain Secret Service records showing roughly $1.75 million in payments to Trump businesses — and, after accounting for other previously published items, concluded the likely grand total approaches $2 million for Secret Service expenditures at Trump properties through the records it obtained and analyzed in 2023 [1]. CREW’s 2023 report singled out Mar-a-Lago as a major line item (over $300,000 in the records CREW obtained) and aggregated spending at golf clubs that CREW says likely totals close to $1 million once previously published items are included [1]. CREW has continued to file FOIA requests and obtain Trump’s public financial disclosures to keep updating its accounting of federal and candidate-related spending at Trump-owned sites [7] [8].
3. Newer CREW findings and continuing inquiries through 2025
CREW continued document requests into 2025, filing FOIAs for State Department expenditures tied to presidential travel to Trump-owned Scottish properties in 2025, and obtained Donald Trump’s 2025 public financial disclosure as a record-keeping matter for its oversight work [9] [7]. CREW also reported that in the early months of Trump’s second term the Secret Service spent nearly $100,000 at Trump properties — a continuation of the pattern CREW flagged earlier — underscoring that federal protection and travel needs generate ongoing public payments to those venues [4]. CREW’s inquiries extend beyond payments to broader transparency fights: it has sued and challenged administration actions over withheld federal financial data, arguing opacity frustrates public accounting [10].
4. Limits, caveats and competing framings in the watchdog record
Both OpenSecrets and CREW stress that their totals are partial and constrained by the limits of public records: CREW notes gaps and ambiguous labeling in procurement records (for example, many entries simply say “Trump National Golf Club” without location), which makes precise allocations difficult and likely undercounts actual spending [1]. OpenSecrets similarly frames its tracker as a response to incomplete disclosure, noting that publicly available financial disclosures reveal holdings but not always the downstream business arrangements that would show full cash flows [11] [2]. Advocates for the administration argue routine security, travel and permissible campaign event expenses explain many payments; watchdogs counter that channeling government and political spending to private properties owned by the president or his family creates at least the appearance of conflicts and requires stricter transparency [2] [1].
5. Bottom line: documented pattern, incomplete picture through 2025
The record assembled by CREW and OpenSecrets through 2025 shows a consistent pattern of campaign, inaugural, and federal spending at Trump-owned properties — tallies in the millions (including a documented roughly $2 million in Secret Service spending reported by CREW and millions more in campaign and inaugural outlays cataloged by OpenSecrets) — while both groups caution that available records are incomplete and that their figures likely understate total payments without fuller disclosure from government agencies and private records [1] [3] [5] [11]. Both organizations continue FOIA requests and database tracking to fill gaps and press the case for greater transparency [9] [6].