Trump jumps the return of dead American soldiers to play golf and increase their business in place

Washington – President Donald Trump jumped the return of the remains of four soldiers who died in a training exercise at the base of Dover’s Air Force on Friday and, on the other hand, spent millions of dollars from taxpayers to attend a dinner for one of their commercial interests and play golf.

The bodies of the four members of the 3rd Army Infantry Division – SGT. José Dasnez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois; Sergeant Edvin F. Franco, 25, by Glendale, California; Staff sergeant. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, by Battle Creek, Michigan; and PFC. Dante D. Taitano, 21, from Dedodo, Guam, was returned to Delaware for his “dignified transfer” ceremony on Friday morning. They died when their M88 armored vehicle of 70 tons sank into a swamp in Lithuania last week.

While the ceremony took place in the asphalt of the Air Force base, Trump was 900 miles south in his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, through the intracoastal river route from his Palm Beach field club.

A Trump administration official, under condition of anonymity, said that “families did not request media to the transfer” and that “the White House respects its privacy application today and has been working on correspondence with families.”

However, the presidents in the past have attended decent transfers, while their press pools that accompany it have remained in a place far from the ceremony. The White House did not respond to a consultation about why that did not happen in this case.

Joe Raedle through Getty Images

While Trump usually goes to Florida for his golf weekends of $ 3.4 million on Fridays, he traveled an early day this week to attend a closed door on his doral golf resort for the Saudi Liv Tour, one of his business partners that celebrates events in his courses.

However, this trip will cost taxpayers at least $ 4.2 million due to the deviation to Miami International Airport, which is only two miles east of Trump’s doral complex. However, Trump took a marine helicopter to fly to the golf course and back instead of mounting in his caravan.

Friday was Trump’s Golf Day in the West Palm field and its twentieth day in one of its fields since he assumed the position on January 20, which means that as of Friday, he has played the golf on 27% of his days in office in his second term. The total cost for taxpayers to transport it and his security apparatus to and from those places in these last 11 weeks is now $ 30.4 million, according to a News analysis.

A Trump, who under the “emolument clause” of the Constitution cannot accept payments, except for its official salary, has been using its official position to help the LIV tour. In February, days after returning to office, he host the head of the Professional Golf Association at the Oval Office, from where he participated in a telephone conference with the head of the LIV tour. Trump has been open about trying to make the two rival golf organizations merge, which, if it happens, would boost LIV and, therefore, he himself.

Since its inception, Liv has used Trump’s courses for its tournaments and is celebrating its fourth this type in doral this weekend. The Trump organization, the Umbed Company for Trump’s various commercial interests, did not respond to News’s consultations on how much LIV has paid for the use of golf courses.

That Trump would put his personal finances and his golf hobby before honoring US service members, while unusual for a president, he is in character with his previous treatment of the military. Trump refused to leave in the rain for a ceremony in honor of the American marines who died in World War I during the 100 -year Armisticio Day in France. His own chief of staff at that time confirmed that Trump called the service members who died from the “dumb” of the United States and the “losers.”