What is the total federal cost of Trump family travel and security since 2017?

1. No single, definitive total exists in available reporting

Sources in this collection report piece‑by‑piece estimates and budget requests but do not deliver a consolidated cumulative total from 2017 through the present. The GAO report examined selected trips and produced a $13.6 million estimate for those Mar‑a‑Lago visits, while the Secret Service internally requested an additional $60 million for travel in a subsequent budget cycle and Congress earmarked “more than $120 million” to cover family security — yet none of these documents claims to be a comprehensive total for all federal travel and protection costs since 2017 ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. Early 2017 Mar‑a‑Lago trips provide a concrete example of measured costs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined four President Trump trips to Mar‑a‑Lago from Feb. 3–Mar. 5, 2017 and reported federal agencies spent about $13.6 million to support those trips, with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security bearing roughly $8.5 million and $5.1 million respectively ^[1]. The GAO’s scope was narrow — specific trips — illustrating how granular audits produce reliable but partial cost snapshots ^[1].

3. Secret Service budget requests and Congressional allocations show systemic pressure

Internal and media‑reported documents show the Secret Service sought roughly $60 million in additional funding tied to Trump‑era travel and protection; reporting said $26.8 million of that would be for protecting the Trump family at Trump Tower and $33 million would fund travel costs ^[2]. Separately, Time reported Congress was looking to budget “more than $120 million” to cover security for the Trump family through a 2017 spending agreement ^[3]. Those figures indicate institutional responses to rising protective‑travel demands but are budgetary requests or allocations, not reconciled actual‑spend totals ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Watchdog and advocacy groups document many additional incidents and costs

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and other organizations assembled tallies showing elevated numbers of “protected trips” (CREW said the Trump family took 3,249 protected trips in two recent fiscal years) and flagged documented payments and overtime claims — for example, county law‑enforcement bills tied to Presidential visits ^{[4] [5]}. These investigations reveal recurring localized costs (sheriff’s overtime, lodging, agency overtime) that are often paid by or reimbursed to different federal and local entities, complicating any single‑line total ^{[4] [5]}.

5. Methodological challenges make aggregation fraught

Available sources show multiple obstacles to producing a single total: the Secret Service, DOD, DHS and local law enforcement all record different categories of expense; some figures are budget requests rather than actual expenditures; some spending is reimbursed to localities or captured in separate agency accounts; and exemptions (e.g., Secret Service lodging caps) affect how costs are posted ^{[1] [2] [6]}. Advocacy groups and media estimate and compile receipts, but those approaches produce varying totals depending on definitions (what counts as “family” travel, whether venue costs paid to Trump properties are included) ^{[4] [6]}.

6. Competing narratives: taxpayer burden vs. operational necessity

Media and watchdog reporting frame rising costs as taxpayer burden and potential self‑enrichment (payments to Trump properties); the Secret Service and defense agencies frame higher expenditures as operationally driven by the protectee’s travel patterns and statutory obligations ^{[6] [1]}. Sources disagree on emphasis: investigative groups highlight payments to Trump businesses and budget strain ^{[6] [4]}; government audits and budget documents document specified agency costs and requests without adjudicating policy fairness ^{[1] [2]}.

7. What is missing and what would be needed to answer the question fully

Available sources do not supply a reconciled, end‑to‑end accounting from 2017 through the present for all federal travel and security costs tied to the Trump family. To produce a definitive total would require aggregated, audited spending data from the Secret Service, DOD, DHS, Air Force (airlift costs), State/local agencies, and reconciled reimbursements across fiscal years — none of which is provided in this document set ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

Conclusion: the reporting you provided documents clear, substantial costs — $13.6 million for selected Mar‑a‑Lago trips (GAO), a $60 million Secret Service travel funding request, and a $120M+ congressional allocation — but does not allow a single verified cumulative total for all Trump family travel and protection since 2017 ^{[1] [2] [3]}.