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02-17-2016, 03:27 PM #1
Obama family vacation travel expenses and Secret Service accommodations for the two 2
Judicial Watch: Secret Service Hotel Bills For Obama Family’s 2014 August Vacation
in Martha’s Vineyard, Christmas Vacation in Honolulu Cost Taxpayers $1,243,057
FEBRUARY 03, 2016
Obama family vacation travel expenses and Secret Service accommodations for the
two 2014 vacations cost taxpayers a total of $5,316,522.10
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on January 15, 2016, it obtained records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
revealing that the August 2014 Martha’s Vineyard and Christmas 2014 Honolulu vacations for President Barack Obama and his family cost taxpayers
$1,243,057.80 for Secret Service accommodations alone.
According to the newly obtained records, accommodations provided by Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Reservations for the Secret Service detail
accompanying the Obama family on their two-week Martha’s Vineyard vacation in August 2014 cost taxpayers a total of $946,435. The documents
show that “GSA Lodging variance” was obtained in order to approve the high costs of accommodations in the “high season” of travel in Martha’s Vineyard.
The documents provide no other details about the Secret Service accommodations.
Accommodations for the Secret Service detail accompanying the Obama family on their December-to-January Christmas Honolulu vacation cost taxpayers
$296,622.80, which includes but is not limited to: $39,575.95 at Paradise Luxury Rentals; $34,827.57 at The Kahala; and $209,218.25 at Cabana Girl LLC.
The Secret Service accommodations records are the second set documents Judicial Watch has released revealing Obama 2014 vacation expenses. In March
2015, Judicial Watch released records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that the Obama family’s 2014 Christmas vacation to
Honolulu cost taxpayers $3,672,798 in flight expenses alone.
In March 2015, Judicial Watch also released documents revealing that transportation expenses for the Obama family 2014 vacation to Martha’s Vineyard
was $400,666.30. That brought the total flight expenses for the two 2014 Obama family vacations to $4,073,464.30.
Taken together, the Obama family travel and Secret Service accommodations for the 2014 Martha’s Vineyard and Christmas Honolulu vacations cost
taxpayers a total of $5,316,522.10.
The Obama family stayed at a luxurious Kailua mansion where, according to the London Telegraph: “Beyond the lawn lies the famous beach, up which the
waves roll majestically, 24 hours a day. Surfers come from far and wide to Kailua, one of the best breaks in the United States, if not the world.”
In Martha’s Vineyard, while the Obama family stayed in a in a plush, secluded seven-bedroom, nine-bath, 8,100-square-foot house in the exclusive
Chilmark neighborhood. According to Fox News, during earlier Obama family Martha’s Vineyard vacations, Secret Service agents stayed in the Oak Bluffs
area of the island, where they “earned an ‘Animal House’ reputation” for their “wild parties, fights and late-night carousing.”
The documents were produced in accordance with a Judicial Watch lawsuit filed in November 2015 against the Secret Service for failing to respond to
19 Freedom of Information Act requests for security-related expenses related to travel by Obama and other VIPs.
Documents from Judicial Watch’s investigations and lawsuits show that the current total known bill to the taxpayer for the Obamas’ travel is at
least $74,124,562.48.
“Now that we’ve sued, the Secret Service has stopped ignoring our requests for details on more of the costs of Barack Obama’s luxury vacations,” said
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Taxpayers, the U.S. Air Force, and the Secret Service are being abused by Barack Obama, who too often treats
Air Force One and his security detail like some of sort of kingly entourage. Does Barack Obama really think that over $5 million for two family vacations,
which include nearly $1 million in Secret Service hotel bills for a two week Martha’s Vineyard vacation, is an appropriate use of tax dollars?
”http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-secret-service-hotel-bills-for-obama-familys-2014-august-vacation-in-marthas-vineyard-christmas-vacation-in-honolulu-cost-taxpayers-1243057/
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02-17-2016, 03:40 PM #2
Obama Golfs On Your Dime
JANUARY 22, 2016
Barack Obama – $10 Million Travel Man
Imagine being able to jet off to golf weekend getaways on a whim. I don’t even golf but of course it would be nice to be able get out of dodge
to avoid the nasty blizzard now arriving here in DC.
But it is good to be the king. Or president. Because Barack Obama jets off on Air Force One, without a seeming care in the world about the
costs to taxapayers, for golf weekends on a regular basis.
We have just obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that the October 2015 Columbus Day getaway enjoyed
by President Barack Obama and his family cost taxpayers $969,783.90 in flight expenses alone. The documents regarding the Obama travel
expenses came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request first filed on October 13, 2015.
The new records obtained by our intrepid and insistent investigators show the Obama family’s October 11 flight from Los Angeles, where he
had attended three high-dollar fundraisers, to San Diego, and then from San Diego back to Washington on October 12, required a total of
4.7 hours of flying time at $206,337 per hour. That brought the total flight cost to taxpayers to $969,783.90. The records do not include the
flight time to travel from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles (through Oregon, Seattle, and San Francisco), nor the Secret Service costs or
other expenses. But don’t worry, we have those numbers already on file. Previously released documents, show the flight time from Washington
to Los Angeles to be five hours, which safely adds $1,031,685 and brings the known total to expense to $2,001,468.90.
According to press reports, Obama and his family spent their getaway weekend in San Diego at the luxurious Rancho Santa Fe resort community.
With an estimated median income of $188, 859, Rancho Santa Fe is one of the highest income communities in the United States. According to
the Rancho Santa Fe website, it boasts “one of the storied private golf courses in California,” with “one of the finest walkable designs in the
world” where “you and your friends will cherish the memorable times.” Sure enough, President Obama reportedly spent several hours golfing.
The White House touted Obama’s trip to the West Coast as an opportunity for the president to push his gun control agenda in Eugene, Oregon,
the site of the Umpqua Community College shooting the previous week. According to the White House schedule for Friday, October 9, however,
Obama spent just two hours with the victims’ families before flying off to Seattle, Washington, for a Democratic National Committee (DNC)
fundraiser. He then left Seattle to participate in a DNC fundraiser in San Francisco later that evening.
In San Francisco, Obama joined Kanye West for a high-dollar fundraiser at The Warfield Theater, which, according to its website, features
“the hottest rock shows in the Bay Area.” There, he attacked the Republican Party for having “gone off the deep end.”
On Saturday, October 10, Obama extended his fundraising agenda with three additional high-dollar events, all in the Los Angeles area. According
to Deadline.com, “In a whirlwind 6 1/2-hour visit to Los Angeles on Saturday, the fundraiser-in-chief will hit a trio of deep-pocket events…beginning
with the home of the Star Wars director and wife Katie McGrath for a $33,400-per-person.”
The $2,001,468.90 Obama spent for his flights between DC and Los Angeles to vacation in San Diego brings his known total bill to the American
taxpayers thus far for all Obama travel to $72,881,504.68. That comes to more than $10 million per year for each year he has been in office.
Political candidates, campaigns, and parties reimburse the federal government for only a small portion of the costs of presidential political travel.
The most transparent administration in history keeps the formula for such cost-sharing secret.
The tens of millions in costs we know about is just the tip of the iceberg. The nearly $73 million cover Secret Service costs and one can’t imagine
the costs to the Defense Department as it moves its command and control structure to support the Golfer-in-Chief.
And we should recall that the Secret Service agents who protect Barack Obama and his family aren’t superhuman. The constant presidential travel
is a drag on the agency and a stress on the agents. A 2014 report by a special panel for the Department of Homeland Security confirms this, as it
found that the Secret Service “is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond its limits.”
Barack Obama is now officially the 10-million-dollar man when it comes to wasteful presidential travel. It looks like that visit with grieving families
was an excuse to get out to sunny California for some fundraising with celebrities such as Kanye West – and golfing.
Just to be clear, your JW is not concentrating solely on this president or one political party. Politicians abuse the perks of office all over Washington.
I told you last week about the lawsuit we filed to find out about often-abuse official congressional delegation travel (CODELS), which often use Air Force
luxury jets and support personnel, authorized by Republican leaders in the House and the Senate.
In the meantime, let’s work together to ensure that a year from now that the new president taking office is mindful of some of the markers on
presidential travel abuse we have set down.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/obama-golfs-dime/
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02-17-2016, 03:47 PM #3
Judicial Watch: Obama Family’s October Weekend Fundraising Getaway to San Diego Cost
Taxpayers $2,001,468.90 in Travel Expenses Alone
JANUARY 21, 2016
Known Travel Expenses Now Approaching $10 Million A Year
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that the
October 2015 Columbus Day getaway enjoyed by President Barack Obama and his family cost taxpayers $969,783.90 in flight expenses alone.
The documents regarding the Obama travel expenses came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request first filed on October 13, 2015.
According to the newly released records obtained by Judicial Watch, the Obama family’s October 11 flight from Los Angeles, where he had attended
three high-dollar fundraisers, to San Diego, and then from San Diego back to Washington on October 12, required a total of 4.7 hours of flying time
at $206,337 per hour. That brought the total flight cost to taxpayers to $969,783.90. The records do not include the flight time to travel from
Washington, DC, to Los Angeles (through Oregon, Seattle, and San Francisco), nor the Secret Service costs or other expenses. Previously released
documents show the flight time from Washington to Los Angeles to be five hours, which safely adds $1,031,685 and brings the known total to expense
to $2,001,468.90.
According to press reports, Obama and his family spent their getaway weekend in San Diego at the luxurious Rancho Santa Fe resort community.
With an estimated median income of $188, 859, Rancho Santa Fe is one of the highest income communities in the United States. According to the
Rancho Santa Fe website, it boasts “one of the storied private golf courses in California,” with “one of the finest walkable designs in the
world” where “you and your friends will cherish the memorable times.” Sure enough, President Obama reportedly spent several hours golfing.
The White House touted Obama’s trip to the West Coast as an opportunity for the president to push his gun control agenda in Eugene, Oregon, the
site of the Umpqua Community College shooting the previous week. According to the White House schedule for Friday, October 9, however, Obama
spent just two hours with the victims’ families before flying off to Seattle, Washington, for a Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser. He then
left Seattle to participate in a DNC fundraiser in San Francisco later that evening.
In San Francisco, Obama joined Kanye West for a high-dollar fundraiser at The Warfield Theater, which, according to its website, features “the hottest
rock shows in the Bay Area.” There, he attacked the Republican Party for having “gone off the deep end.”
On Saturday, October 10, Obama extended his fundraising agenda with three additional high-dollar events, all in the Los Angeles area. According to
Deadline.com, “In a whirlwind 6 1/2-hour visit to Los Angeles on Saturday, the fundraiser-in-chief will hit a trio of deep-pocket events…beginning with
the home of the Star Wars director and wife Katie McGrath for a $33,400-per-person.”
The $2,001,468.90 Obama spent for his flights between DC and Los Angeles to vacation in San Diego brings his known total expense to the American
taxpayers thus far for all Obama travel to $72,881,504.68. That comes to more than $10 million per year for each year he has been in office.
Political candidates, campaigns, and parties reimburse the federal government for only a small portion of the costs of presidential political travel. The
Obama White House keeps the formula for such cost-sharing secret.
A 2014 report by a special panel for the Department of Homeland Security found that the Secret Service “is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond
its limits.”
“Barack Obama is now the 10-million-dollar man when it comes to wasteful presidential travel,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It looks like
that visit with grieving families was an excuse to get out to sunny California for some fundraising with celebrities such as Kanye West – and golfing.”
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obama-familys-october-weekend-fundraising-getaway-to-san-diego-cost-taxpayers-2001468-90-in-travel-expenses-alone/
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02-17-2016, 03:55 PM #4
New Obama vacation costs uncovered; They now exceed $70 million
DECEMBER 30, 2015
Andrew Malcolm
As Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama, family, friends, pets and staff enjoy their half-month-long Hawaiian vacation, the Secret Service
finally complied with a court order to release some Obama vacation expenses from two years ago.
That’s how eager the Obama administration is about being transparent when it comes to spending large sums of taxpayers’ money on itself.
As with the slow-motion releases of Hillary Clinton’s emails, the idea of bureaucratic stalling, of course, is that the details become “old” news more likely
to be ignored by media. Fortunately, we’re not on vacation this week, so we can help the president out. Here goes:
The new expense reports, heavily-redacted allegedly for security reasons, push the total known costs for vacations during Obama’s reign to nearly
$71 million — with another full year to go. That’s about $10.1 million per year in known expenses.
The totals come from Judicial Watch, the dogged watchdog group that pursues such information through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests.
Earlier this year Judicial Watch obtained transportation costs for a pair of the Democrat’s cross-country golf weekends just in 2015. They
totaled nearly $2 million, or $20,000 per hole, the Washington Examiner calculated.
In February, for instance, Obama spent President’s Weekend golfing with male friends in Palm Springs. At $206,000 per flight hour, that trip set taxpayers
back $1.03 million. That does not include other costs such as security and transportation.
Of course, even with Camp David available for free in Maryland every president goes on vacation, though none have gone so far so often as the Obamas,
sometimes in separate planes.
Their family trips to Hawaii, for example, require at least 18 hours of Air Force One flight time at $206,000 per flight hour. Or $3.7 million minimum.
Complaints of over-spending on personal travel have dogged this first couple starting with Michelle Obama’s luxury vacation with friends to Spain
at the peak of the recession and subsequent family excursions during the nation’s weakest economic recovery since World War II.
As we reported earlier this year: The Obamas have “traveled more than any other first family, often with Mrs. Obama’s mother and her friends.
By the summer of 2014 the Obamas had taken 31 international trips lasting 119 days. At the same point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan had
taken 14 such trips over 73 days.
“When the family visited Ireland in 2013, taxpayers were hit for just under $8 million, including a quarter-million dollars for a two-day side-trip to
Dublin for the Obama women. They chose a $3,500-per-night hotel suite in addition to 29 other rooms for their traveling party at the five-star hotel.
“Last year when Mrs. Obama, her mother and two daughters toured China, they stayed in a Beijing hotel suite costing $8,400 per night.”
The latest expense revelations extracted from the Secret Service by Judicial Watch seem almost a bargain by comparison. They show, among other
things, $92,000 for rental cars and $225,000 for lodging paid to Paradise Luxury Rentals and Cabana Girl LLC for agents during the
Obamas’ 2013 Hawaii holiday.
“It is easy to see why the Secret Service, reeling from its own scandals, covered up these outrageous expense numbers for just one of Obama’s luxury
Christmas vacations,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The $317,000 in Secret Service expenses are only the tip of the iceberg for the true
cost of Obama’s 2013 vacation in Hawaii, which has now skyrocketed to $8,098,060.”
The organization has another lawsuit pending against the Department of Homeland Security for ignoring an additional 19 Freedom of Information requests.
http://www.investors.com/obama-vacation-expenses-already-exceed-70-million-dollars/
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02-17-2016, 04:06 PM #5
Let’s hope they’re economizing this year! Final cost of the Obamas’ Hawaii Christmas
two years ago revealed to be $500,000 PER DAY
DECEMBER 29, 2015
- President and family flew to Hawaii on Dec. 18, are expected back in Washington on Jan. 4
- Conservative group Judicial Watch has been critical of the Obamas' vacations and has released federal documents detailing the expenses to US taxpayers
- Cost of latest trip estimated at $8.1 million, largely due to Secret Service costs
- Total cost of eight annual vacations could top $56 million, group says
By J. Taylor Rushing, U.s. Political Reporter, For Dailymail.com
Published: 18:04 EST, 29 December 2015 | Updated: 13:36 EST, 30 December 2015
President Barack Obama's latest Hawaiian vacation with his family is costing U.S. taxpayers about $500,000 per day and $8.1 million over the
course of his presidency, according to new reports published Tuesday.
A native Hawaiian, Obama has visited the islands while president eight times for an annual Christmas vacation - with another possible in
December 2016, shortly before he leaves office.
The latest trip is costing Americans approximately $500,000 a day, according to a report in the Washington Examiner that
was based on Department of Homeland Security documents of Secret Service expenses for the Obamas' Dec. 2013-Jan. 2014 trip to Hawaii.
The documents were given to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch by a federal court.
President Barack Obama's 17-day Hawaiian vacation for Christmas - his eighth - will cost US taxpayers more than $8 million
Earlier this month, Judicial Watch President Tom Fifton slammed Obama for treating Air Force One, which costs $206,000/hour to run,
'like an Uber ride' ahead of his next jaunt to his home state.'
At the time, JW estimated that fly-time alone will set taxpayers back somewhere in the region of $3.5 million as Obama, the First Lady,
Sasha and Malia and their two dogs jet off for around two weeks.
The total cost of Obama's vacations since taking office in January 2009 has now hit $70.5 million, the group said, with $56 million coming from the
trips to Hawaii.
On Tuesday, Judicial Watch complained that it took DHS two years to fulfill its records request, which showed Secret Service protection alone cost
taxpayers at least $316,698.03, bringing the total for that Hawaiian vacation to $8,098,060.33.
'It seems our lawsuits finally got the attention of the Secret Service. It is easy to see why the Secret Service, reeling from its own scandals, covered
up these outrageous expense numbers for just one of Obama's luxury Christmas vacation,' Fitton said.
'The $317,000 in Secret Service expenses are only the tip of the iceberg for the true cost of Obama's 2013 vacation in Hawaii, which has now
skyrocketed to $8,098,060. It is nice to know that Obama's 'tradition' of Christmas vacations in Hawaii comes courtesy of overburdened taxpayers.'
The Obamas have been staying on the island of Oahu, Hawaii's most populated island, in a rented, private home in an upscale neighborhood called Kailua.
The president's schedule has been heavy on golf, although he also went snorkeling on Tuesday and spurred some excitement when his motorcade drove
past a man flying a recreational drone.
Reports said 'unamused' Secret Service agents forced the drone down from the air, although no arrests were made.
Obama has made few public appearances during the trip, but did host a briefing on the U.S. military's efforts against the Islamic State terror army and
release a Christmas video message with First Lady Michelle Obama.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz40SPKgm98
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