American taxpayers reportedly coughed up nearly $100,000 for Ivanka Trump’s luxury birthday getaway.
The president’s daughter, whose fortune is estimated at between $50 million and $100 million, visited Morocco for her 45th birthday late last month.
Federal records show taxpayers were charged $93,000 for Secret Service agents to stay at two five-star hotels in advance of Ivanka’s trip to Marrakech, according to the Daily Mail.
The records include a $59,543 contract issued on Oct. 21 to cover rooms at the five-star Sofitel for Secret Service agents ahead of a “VVIP” arrival, and a $33,457 contract issued the following day, to accommodate a Secret Service team at La Mamounia hotel.
Previous celebrity guests at La Mamounia include Elton John, Nicole Kidman, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Private riads can cost more than $8,600 a night.
The report notes that Ivanka’s name is not mentioned in either record. However, she was reportedly the only Secret Service protectee known to have been in Morocco during that period.
Ivanka was spotted in Marrakech on Oct. 29 by local media, just days before her father saw Republicans suffer a disastrous midterm election defeat.
Local website Le360 said Ivanka explored historic neighborhoods, including the El Ksour district, and walked through Jemaa el-Fnaa Square. She was photographed wearing sunglasses and a hat while carrying her phone.
Trump’s family members have regularly been described as “VVIPs” in the same contracting database.
The $93,000 bill does not account for the salaries of Secret Service agents, their flights, meals, or ground transportation.
A spokesperson for Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, had no immediate comment when contacted by the Daily Mail. The publication quoted a family source who said Secret Service protection is available to “every child and grandchild of the president.”
“The Iranians said they wanted to kill her, wouldn’t you want the best protection possible?” the source added, in reference to a report that Ivanka’s life had been threatened to avenge the killing of Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
The source declined to say why the president’s daughter was in Marrakech, but said she returned to America for the midterm elections. Moroccan media described her visit as a “private retreat.”
A Secret Service spokesperson told the Daily Mail, “From a Secret Service standpoint, we’re always with our protectees,” but did not comment on the details of the trip.
The Daily Beast contacted the Secret Service and representatives for Ivanka Trump for comment.
The latest visit was Trump’s third trip to Morocco, according to Le360. She visited the country in 2019 on an official trip to support women’s economic empowerment, before returning in 2022 for a private holiday with Kushner.
Details of the taxpayer-funded expenses emerged after Ivanka faced backlash for sharing photos from another luxury birthday getaway in Virginia.
Social media users accused her of being “tone-deaf” for flaunting her wealth during a cost-of-living crisis, which has been exacerbated by her father’s war with Iran.
Ivanka stayed at The Inn at Little Washington, a five-star hotel that is home to The Dining Room, a two-Michelin-star restaurant, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Kushner, meanwhile, has been under the microscope for his work around the world for the Trump administration despite having no official government role and still conducting personal business.
During Donald Trump’s first term, he was a senior White House adviser involved heavily in Middle East policy.
After leaving government, Kushner founded Affinity, which subsequently received a reported $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Kushner has defended that relationship as legal and appropriate.
But his current arrangements with the White House have attracted congressional scrutiny because Kushner is a presidential special envoy but not a federal employee, leaving questions about which federal ethics rules apply to his private investments.
