Eric Trump flies coach, but he and siblings still get taxpayer-funded Secret Service protection
Before he left office, Donald Trump made the highly unusual move to have the Secret Service continue to provide costly 24-hour security for his adult children for the next six months.
The last the world saw of Eric and Lara Trump, the couple were boarding Air Force One on the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration to accompany Donald Trump back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Since then, Eric and Lara Trump’s travel accommodations have been decidedly less grand. For their trip home to New York on Sunday, the couple and their two children flew in economy class on a Delta flight, TMZ reported. Eric Trump himself was seen putting his carry-on luggage in an overhead bin, while Lara Trump maneuvered their son, 3, and daughter, 1, for a couple trips to the bathroom.
Still, Eric and Lara Trump, who urged a pro-Trump crowd to “fight” and “march on the Capitol” before the Jan. 6 insurrection, still enjoy some perks of their one-time proximity to White House power. Under an unusual arrangement ordered by Donald Trump before he left office, Eric Trump will continue to get U.S. Secret Service protection for the next six months.
Never thought I would have 150,000 people sing me happy birthday on the National Mall in Washington D.C! pic.twitter.com/XXNW9p6wTQ
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) January 6, 2021
Indeed, Secret Service agents were seen escorting Eric Trump and his family onto the Delta flight, ensuring they didn’t have to wait in the terminal like everyone else.
In the final days of his presidency, Trump arranged for Eric and his siblings, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump, and his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, to continue to get the best security available to them — and at no cost to themselves, the Washington Post reported.
Under federal law, Eric Trump and his siblings were not automatically entitled to such costly security after their father left office, the Washington Post reported. Only Trump, his wife, Melania Trump, and Barron, their 14-year-old son, are guaranteed such protection, and Barron’s runs out when he turns 16.
Certainly, a president can order Secret Service protection for anyone he chooses, but it is “highly unusual for a departing president to make that service available to adults who are long past their college years,” the Washington Post reported. Eric is 37, Trump Jr. is 43, and Ivanka Trump is 39.
Maybe Trump was looking to taxpayers to fund security for his already wealthy children as one way to cut costs as his company, the Trump Organization, faces a deepening financial crisis, reports say.
Trump owes banks and investors some $400 million that will come due over the next few years, and his key properties are “bleeding money,” the Washington Post also reported.
Eric Trump might be especially troubled by these losses, given that he’s the heir who has mostly been running the Trump Organization while his father served as president. Trump also put Trump Jr. in charge of the company, but Trump Jr. spent much of his time with his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, campaigning for his father’s re-election and working to solidify his MAGA base.
With Eric and Lara Trump returning to New York after some downtime at Mar-a-Lago, Eric Trump must deal with the fact that Trump hotels, resorts and other properties lost more than $120 million in revenue in 2020, the Washington Post reported, citing financial disclosure forms Trump filed before he left office.
Some of these losses can be blamed on closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Post said, but others were self-inflicted, with the Trump Organization’s major lending bank, its law firms and some of its customers cutting ties after the Capitol insurrection.
Donald Trump has been impeached an historic second time, and faces a Senate trial on charges of inciting the insurrection. His children, including Eric, also continue to face questions about their actions at the rally where Trump fired up his supporters with his false claims of election fraud, and urged them to march on the Capitol.
At the rally, Eric Trump also pushed false claims that the Nov. 3 election was stolen from his father, and he urged House and Senate members to “have some backbone” and vote against finalizing Biden’s election victory.
“Is there any person that actually thinks Joe Biden won this election? No!” Eric Trump said, later proclaiming, “We need to march on the capitol today and stand up for what’s right.”
Eric Trump was joined on stage by Lara Trump, 39, who is said to be considering running for U.S. Senate in her home state of North Carolina. She asked the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to Eric, who turned 37 that day.
Meanwhile, the couple are the only members of Trump’s immediate family who haven’t made moves to leave their longtime hometown of New York — after reports say that the Trumps are no longer welcome in the city’s liberal high society.
Donald and Melania Trump changed their voter registration to Florida and are currently staying at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, though the New York Times reported that the former first lady has been house-hunting in nearby Jupiter, Florida.
Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle also are reportedly looking to buy two adjacent mansions in an exclusive gated community in Jupiter, however, the Palm Beach Post also reported that not all of their would-be neighbors want them there, given their actions at the pre-insurrection rally.
It also has been reported that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have purchased a $30 million plot of land on the exclusive island of Indian Creek, near Miami, where they hope to build a new mansion. They are leasing a luxury condominium in Miami while their new home is built, CNN reported. Tiffany Trump also is looking to buy a house or condo in Miami, Page Six reported.
