In 8 years as president, Barack Obama spent $97 million in taxpayer dollars on vacation around the world. On a regular basis, Obama would leave Washington, D.C. and travel around the country fundraising and playing golf, all on the backs of the American worker.
While Obama’s travel expenses during his 8 years in office were outrageous, that hasn’t stopped the liberal media from falsely attacking President Trump, claiming he is on pace to outspend Obama’s vacation habits in just one year.
CNN ran a hit piece the other day, claiming that “President Trump is on pace to surpass 8 years of Obama’s travel spending in 1 year.”
President Trump is on pace to surpass 8 years of Obama’s travel spending in 1 year @CNNPolitics https://t.co/rTnNJU7BBd via @danmericaCNN
— Athena Jones (@AthenaCNN) April 12, 2017
How did CNN come to this over the top conclusion? Well in their article, they base their figures on one 4 day trip Obama took to Florida in 2013, compared with trips President Trump has taken to date:
Given variations in each trip, estimating the security costs around a presidential trip is difficult. But a 2016 Government Accountability Office report about a four-day trip Obama took to Florida in 2013 — one similar to Trump’s trips — found the total cost to the Secret Service and Coast Guard was $3.6 million.
To date, Trump has spent six weekends — and a total of 21 days — at Mar-A-Lago, his private Palm Beach club. The total estimated costs for those trips are around $21.6 million.
These figures sound awful, but facts are a stubborn thing.
The Chicago Tribune decided to fact check the CNN piece, and contacted the author of the GAO report and concluded that it’s inappropriate to compare Obama and Trump’s trips:
The GAO’s bottom line for that trip, not including regular White House personnel costs as well as some classified expenses, was $3.6 million. But the author of that report, Brian Lepore, says that figure shouldn’t be applied to Trump’s travel.
“It’s hard to substitute one trip for another, even if the destination is the same,” Lepore said. Each time a president travels, the Defense Department must airlift equipment such as the protective limousines, security vehicles and occasionally helicopters from various military bases around the country.
CNN also left out the fact that before Obama traveled to Florida for vacation he stopped off in Chicago to give an economic speech, which while included in the $3.6 million total, was not vacation time. Furthermore, the conservative Judicial Watch has concluded that Trump’s travel is actually around $1 million per visit, much less than the estimate.
We all know the liberal media is out to get President Trump, and this latest hit piece is just more evidence that they are more interested in tearing down this president rather than doing actual reporting.
H/T: Twitchy
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