Right now, the cost to taxpayers is more than $2 million a day, the documents show, a number that is sure to increase whenever the president or the first lady travels — or when the threat level rises.
The Secret Service will be paying rent to the Trump Organization for space it must lease in Trump Tower to protect him and his family:
When Trump heads home to the luxury 58-story high rise on Fifth Avenue, the feds will also need to find accommodations for staffers in a building where a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment rents for $5,250 a month, according to the StreetEasy real estate site.
"They would need at least a whole floor, and every apartment on that floor would need to be turned into an office," Sullivan said.
Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent who protected both Bush and Obama says:
...she hopes Trump will reconsider at least his own weekend plans once he becomes president.
"This is one of those situations where they really should have an honest conversation with him and just really explain to him that this is not a good idea," she told NBC's Brian Williams. "To physically re-create the security that exists at the White House in New York City, it's not going to happen."
Poumpouras says NYC is dangerous to residents of Trump Tower and anyone nearby:
"There's buses going by. There's trucks going by. When that detonates, that building is not going to withstand that blast."
As to the cost of securing Trump and family at Trump Tower:
Poumpouras said that flights out of LaGuardia Airport would have to be rerouted so they didn't fly directly over Trump Tower and that the subways running below the building would have to be fortified and closely watched.
"Routes will need to change," she said. "All the security changes to make this happen will cost millions upon millions."
Then there's presidential gridlock. Any time the commander-in-chief ventures in and out of New York City, traffic grinds to a halt, and commuter chaos ensues.
Rivaling Joe Biden, his motorcade from the airport to his Palm Beach house included 45 cars and an ambulance.
It was in a 45-vehicle convoy that included limousines, vans — and an ambulance.
Trump's Florida property, in addition to Trump Tower, will require improvements costing a lot of federal money to protect him.
"It is the case that the Secret Service regularly upgrades a president's off-campus residence," Sullivan said. "Typically, it includes security apparatus and global communications."
And he wasn't even the people's choice for President. He lost the popular vote by more than 2 million votes to Hillary Clinton. The numbers are here.
Congress should pass an appropriations measure like it did in 2014 when it prohibited Department of Justice funds from being used to enforce medical marijuana laws in states where it was legal.
The Secret Service is under the Homeland Security Department. So how about a funding law that says:
SEC. xxx. None of the funds made available in the 2017 budget authorization to the Department of Homeland Security shall be used to protect or secure the President or his immediate family at a secondary residence owned or controlled by a President during his tenure as President. No such funds shall be used to pay rent at any residence or commerical property in which the President has a financial interest. The expenditure of funds authorized in this section shall be limited to the White House, Camp David, and properties inhabited by the President and his immediate family during regularly scheduled vacations of up to two weeks in length, provided neither he nor his immediate family have a financial interest in such vacation properties.
Let Trump rent out his gawdy, ostentatious palaces in Trump Tower and Mar a Lago and his plane for four years. Or admit he really doesn't want to be President and give up the job.
