Member-only story
News, Trump
Who Flew Trump to Washington for His Arraignment?
Trump’s donors don’t seem to care
Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 is an impressive airplane despite being smaller than Air Force One. The ex-president parked it for four years while he had access to the plane’s big brother, but just after the January 6, 2021 Trump Insurrection, he had it returned to service. It now whisks him to and from campaign rallies, between Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, New Jersey, and to criminal arraignments.
While I was watching Trump’s arrival last week in Washington for his indictment, I wondered, who’s paying for the plane? It costs around $18,000 to fly a 757 for an hour. The annual cost to own a 757 is $6.9 million. That is a lot of money, but Trump is a self-identified billionaire.
Is he charging part or all of his transportation costs to his presidential campaign? A review of the most recent filing of the disclosure statement for his Save America PAC did not show charges for “Trump One,” but Trump has several PACs. (Save America PAC did show fees paid for several law firms and individual lawyers.)
Call me a cynic, but I doubt Trump is paying for the cost of his trips to various cities for indictments. Let’s assume he isn’t, but what about the cost of the Secret Service agents that accompany…