![]() ![]() Read more of ProPublica’s stunning reporting here. ![]() (It’s unclear if the White House asked any of those drinking to reimburse the government the White House declined to comment.) The unusual cocktail hour underscores a unique push and pull in the current administration: Donald Trump’s White House pays a bill and Donald Trump’s club reaps the revenue. ![]() It was then forwarded to the White House, which paid the tab. The bill was sent to the State Department, which objected to covering it. Hagin did not respond to requests for comment.) Bannon, who has said he stopped drinking years ago, said he didn’t drink at Mar-a-Lago and didn’t recall the episode. (It stated that she was told the participants included then-strategist Steve Bannon and then-deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin. Watson’s email did not specify how many people consumed the alcohol or who the participants were. It covered 54 drinks (making for an average price of $18.62 each) of premium liquor: Chopin vodka, Patron and Don Julio Blanco tequilas and Woodford Reserve bourbon. Six days later, on April 13, Mar-a-Lago created a bill for those drinks, tallying $838 worth of alcohol plus a 20% service charge. And members of the group began pouring themselves drinks. The Secret Service guarded the door, according to the email. The group asked the bartender to leave the room so it “could speak confidentially,” according to an email written by Mar-a-Lago’s catering director, Brooke Watson. But where the lines blur are with the “less formal events”:Īt some point later that evening, a group repaired to Mar-a-Lago’s Library Bar, a wood-paneled study with a portrait of Trump in tennis whites (titled “The Visionary”) hanging nearby. There was the typical lavish dinner, yes. ProPublica reports that this particular bar tab stems from the two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April 2017. Listen: /yVCHJcglsQ- ProPublica May 1, 2019 The White House ended up paying the club - with taxpayer money. NEW: This is a receipt for a $1k bar tab from one of Trump's visits to Mar-a-Lago. ![]()
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