Ivanka and Jared: two All American kids who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps
by digby
From the, “you can’t make this stuff up files”:
Ivanka debuts as admin spokesperson for rugged individualism: “I don’t think most Americans want to be given something. People want to work for what they get.” pic.twitter.com/RerMUQ7aIj— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 26, 2019
If there’s one thing Jvanka learned in her hardscrabble childhood in Trump Tower and Aspen, it’s the satisfaction of achievement on your own merits.
I’m not sure if she an Jared have jetted off to one of their “mini-breaks” this month. But they must be so tired.
By federal law, the president’s family is protected under the watch of the U.S. Secret Service, which makes sense: The president of the United States is a high-profile public figure, and threats to the well-being of a president’s family are real. What doesn’t make sense? Unchecked and egregious overuse of those protections by the First Family, especially because American taxpayers foot the Secret Service’s bill.
First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who both serve as unpaid advisers to President Donald Trump, earned at least $82 million in income last year and could have made up to $222 million, according to The New York Times. They’re rich, and their vacations are expensive, especially when traveling with an entourage of security for whom they don’t foot the bill.
Even though Secret Service security detail is offered to the president’s immediate family by law, adult children are not required to use this service. Since Ivanka’s father took office, in 2016, the couple has spent almost half a million dollars of taxpayer money while traveling with the Secret Service.
Here is a list of the most egregious examples.
1. They spent $58,000 for a long weekend at a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic.
In August, Ivanka and Jared embarked on a long weekend getaway to the town of Rio San Juan, and they did so in VIP style. And American taxpayers footed the bill. According to documents obtained by Quartz, the first of two charges made to the government for this particular trip was submitted under the line item “VIP Visit Amanera Resort Rio San Juan.” According to Quartz, the Kushners arrived on either Friday, August 10, or Saturday, August 11, and left on Monday, August 13. According to the resort’s website, rates for that same time frame in 2019 start at $1,650 per night.
It’s still a free country, and multimillionaires have long held the right to vacation where they want, as extravagantly as they please. But American taxpayers are on the hook for the Kushner security detail’s travel and lodging, and taxpayers footed a $26,280 bill, apparently for security’s hotel accommodations, in addition to $32,064 for other security measures, according to Quartz.
2. Days after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted in one death, Ivanka and Jared went on a spa getaway, resulting in a $14,000 bill for Secret Service expenses.
In August 2017, just days after a man drove his car into counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, killing one woman and injuring 19 others, Ivanka and Jared decided to get away to the Twin Farms Resort & Spa in Barnard, Vermont, according to a report from Refinery29.com.
While the couple was at the spa for only two days, their security team spent a total of eight days in the area, according to an original report from the New York Daily News. The Secret Service did not convey to the Daily News why agents needed to spend additional time in the area, but taxpayers footed the additional lodging costs anyway.
Perhaps even worse? For this trip, the cost of travel and lodging was reportedly inflated due to high demand for accommodation in the area during that season, and the overall cost was ultimately double what the U.S. General Services Administration lists as typical rates for the area, according to the Daily News. Beyond the trip being poorly timed, cost alone made this a pretty bad weekend to spa, Javanka!
3. Then there was the $330,000 ski trip to Aspen, this time with her siblings.
Few things are more valuable than quality bonding time with one’s siblings — and nothing, it seems, is more expensive than a Trump kids vacation with the Secret Service in tow! According to The Hill, in February 2017, Ivanka and Jared took a couple’s trip to Aspen with Ivanka’s brother Eric and his wife, Lara. According to documents that CBS News obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, in addition to travel and lodging costs for the security team, the Trump clan spent at least $26,000 on rental vehicles, as well as $22,000 on the necessary equipment agents needed in order to accompany the family down the slopes.
4. Taxpayers also had to foot the more than $66,000 bill for a Passover ski trip to Canada.
Expensive skiing trips are a theme here, clearly. To celebrate Passover in 2017, Ivanka and Jared took their three young children to the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Whistler, British Columbia, where the hotel bill for the security team was $59,654, as well as $6,884 for “multi-day ski passes”. Seriously, how many Secret Service agents does it take to accompany a family of five down the bunny hill?
If there’s one thing those hard working kids learned on their way up, it’s to never leave a penny on the sidewalk.
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