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Fact check: What are the security costs associated with presidential golf trips?
Executive Summary
Presidential golf trips incur substantial and recurring security and logistical costs paid by taxpayers, with multiple investigations and reporting placing individual trip costs in the thousands to millions and aggregate estimates for former President Trump ranging from tens to hundreds of millions across terms; the exact accounting is complex and disputed. Recent reporting documents specific expenditures—Secret Service spending at Trump-owned properties, rental of equipment like golf carts and portable toilets, and international travel costs—that illustrate both direct operational expenses and indirect costs tied to venue, ownership, and logistics [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. Big-ticket trips leave a paper trail — specific expenditures add up quickly
Reporting has documented concrete line-item costs tied to presidential golf and resort visits. Investigations in 2025 found the Secret Service and supporting agencies spent money at Trump properties—nearly $100,000 at properties in the early months of his second term and rental contracts exceeding $600,000 for golf carts and portable toilets at Bedminster—illustrating operational costs that arise from protecting the president at private clubs [3] [4]. Earlier reporting from 2025 traced Secret Service and White House staff lodging bills at Mar-a-Lago and other properties, noting that those arrangements sometimes involved the president’s businesses charging government entities for housing agents and staff, with reported totals approaching $2 million for certain periods [1]. These concrete expenditures show how location and venue choices generate measurable security-related spending.
2. Aggregate estimates vary widely — methodology and context matter
Aggregate dollar estimates for “golf-related” costs diverge depending on what analysts include. Some investigative pieces attribute more than $144 million in Trump’s first-term leisure travel costs and projected another $155 million in a subsequent term, while other analyses caution that such figures mix travel, security, staffing, and ancillary agency expenses and therefore can be misleading without standardized accounting rules [2] [6]. The variance stems from methodological differences: some tallies isolate incremental costs directly caused by choosing a private resort over a neutral government site, whereas others sum all travel and support spending during trips that included golf. This methodological opacity means headline totals can be accurate under one definition and overstated under another, so direct comparisons require careful footnoting of what is and isn’t included.
3. International trips amplify costs — transport, logistics and local security
When presidential travel crosses borders, costs and logistical complexity increase sharply. A July 2025 trip to Scotland tied to a private golf course opening was reported to cost approximately $10 million for a five-day visit, with line items covering travel, logistics, security, and lodging for protective details and support staff, illustrating how international venues multiply expenses [5]. International protective operations require coordination with host-country authorities, secure transport and accommodations for sizeable details, and contingency planning that can significantly exceed domestic trip costs. Those added layers explain why even short foreign trips can produce seven- or eight-figure bills compared with many domestic weekend movements.
4. Ownership and optics: taxpayers paying businesses linked to the president
Multiple reports document taxpayers footing bills at properties owned by the president, raising questions about both financial flow and public perception. Reporting from 2025 highlights instances where the Secret Service and other federal entities paid lodging, food, or services at properties connected to the president, producing sums that critics describe as problematic because they route government spending into private enterprises owned by the protected official [1] [3]. Defenders of standard protective practice note that the Secret Service must secure safe, proximate lodging and support facilities for agents and staff, and that procurement rules sometimes leave limited options. The factual record shows payments occurred; the policy debate centers on whether alternatives or tighter rules could reduce such transfers.
5. What the Secret Service budget documents say — scale but not line-by-line attribution
Congressional justifications and budget documents for the U.S. Secret Service outline the programmatic scale of protective operations but do not provide tidy, trip-by-trip public breakdowns of every security cost attributable to golf outings, leaving analysts to piece together totals from individual expense reports and media FOIA-driven releases [7]. Broader reporting also shows the Service has continued to incur large travel and lodging bills tied to protecting former and current presidents and their entourages after transitions, such as documented hotel and transportation costs exceeding $1.3 million for protection following a presidency, underscoring ongoing baseline expenses that complicate isolating golf-specific incremental costs [8]. The fiscal record therefore supports claims of substantial expenditures while also demonstrating why precise attribution to “golf” alone is analytically difficult.