For a couple that has spent eight years apologizing for their country — the Obamas — have nevertheless managed to enjoy its taxpayer-provided bounty.
Last week, thanks to the work of our intrepid investigators and hard-charging lawyers, we released to the public several reports from the Secret Service and the Air Force that bring the known total of Obama travel expense over the past eight years to a staggering $96,938,882.51.
The new reports contain details of the costs of Obama’s Earth Day trip to the Florida Everglades, a political fundraising trip to San Diego, Michelle’s annual Aspen ski trip, her trip to Morocco, the family vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, as well as Hillary’s ride with Obama on Air Force One to North Carolina.
We received this information after filing two separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits, asking the court to enjoin the Secret Service from withholding responsive documents from Judicial Watch (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:15-cv-01983)) and (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:16-cv-00863)).
The Secret Service is a component of the Department of Homeland Security:
- Secret Service records reveal that Barack Obama’s April 22, 2015, Earth Day trip to give a global warming speech in the Florida Everglades cost taxpayers $145,752.36, which brings the total cost of the trip to at least $1,012,367.76.
- The Secret Service records for Obama’s October 2015 fundraising travel to San Diego reveal expenses totaling $180,187.09. Including the U.S. Air Force expenses, the total cost of Obama’s San Diego trip was at least $2,181,655.99.
- Michelle Obama’s February 2016 ski trip to Aspen with her daughters cost taxpayers a total of $222,875.58. The Secret Service expenses were $165,806.78. Judicial Watch previously obtained records from the Air Force revealing that Michelle Obama’s weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado, last year cost American taxpayers $57,068.80 in travel expenses alone for the 7.4-hour round-trip flight.
- Judicial Watch obtained records from the U.S. Air Force and the Secret Service revealing that Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba and Argentina in March 2016 cost taxpayers $7,146,015.18 in Secret Service and Air Force travel expenses.
- Air Force records regarding Michelle Obama’s trip to Morocco, Spain and Liberia with her daughters in June 2016 revealed $450,026.40 in flight expenses alone. A C-32A was flown for 28.4 hours.
- Judicial Watch recently obtained Air Force records which reveal that the Obama’s August 2016 vacation to Martha’s Vineyard cost taxpayers $450,295 in flight expenses alone.
- Judicial Watch also recently obtained records from the Air Force showing that in July 2016 taxpayers paid $360,236 for Hillary Clinton to accompany Obama on Air Force One for a campaign trip to North Carolina.
Also, in October 2016 Michele Obama joined Hillary Clinton in North Carolina for a rally reportedly to “encourage early voting in North Carolina.” Documents regarding this trip have been requested but have not yet been received. The First Lady typically flies in a C-32 A so the 1.8 hour flight could safely be estimated to have cost taxpayers $28,522.80.
