Watchdog warns of Mar-a-Lago conflicts
Report outlines spending at Trump proprieties
By: Antonio Fins
Palm Beach Post
USA today Network
..... A government watchdog group said in May [2025] that President Donald Trump;s return to the Winter White House at Mar-a-Lago and visits to his other properties have revived conflict-of-interest concerns.
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A report issued May 15 [2025] by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, cited more than half a million dollars in spending at Trump's properties by political entities, including the Republican National Committee and 50 Republican serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.
..... All told, they spent $676,457, with the RNC alone ponying up $372,215, according to filings to the Federal Election Commission that CREW reviewed to compile the study.
..... CREW's report noted that over 95% of House committee spending was at Floria properties - $58,569 at trump National Droal and $41,858 at Mar-a-Lago - and that the spending will likely shift to the president's properties in New Jersey and elsewhere now that he is expected to visit those properties until autumn.
..... CREW said the expenditures are troubling because the congressional representatives are supposed to exert oversight of the administration.
..... "We have a president right now who is presenting again the most troubling conflicts of interest we have ever seen, at the very least in a modern presidency, and maybe in any presidency, and not only are they not keeping quite about it, they are wholeheartedly embracing it," said Robert Magiire, CREW's vice president for research and data.
..... "T Hey are intentionally spending money at his properties to demonstrate fealty to him, and demonstrating that they are not going to hold him accountable for the conflicts of interest that he brings into office with him."
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Maguire said the sums speak to just a fraction of politically focused spending at Trump properties. An entire other array of special-interest and dark-money organizations also spent money at trump's businesses, he said, but simply are required by law to just report their top five expenditures above $100,00.
..... All told, Maguire said, the spending speaks to renewed, serious concerns about special-interest groups regaining access and currying favor with the president by spending lavishly at Mar-a-Lago, as well as golf clubs and resorts he owns.
..... "What we have is conservative," Magurie said of CREW's findings. "There is obviously a lot more happening that we either don't know about or is kind of in a gray area. So there is a lot more than what we have, and what we have is already very bad."
..... Among the groups that have held gatherings at Mar-a-Lago since Trump took office January 20 [2025] was America;s Future Incorporated, founded by retired US. Lt. General Michael Flynn. It sponsored an "American Execptionalism" gala in February, [2025] which listed actor Russell brand, rocker Ted Nugent and heavyweight boxer mike Tyson as attendees. Prices per seat ranged form 45,000 to $10,000, according to the invitation.
Trump calls Mar-a-Lago 'Center of the Universe'
..... CREW's report is unlikely to move Trump or hold sway with the administration. In late December, [2024]a Trump representative said the group is a "radical left" group that has long been attacking the president with frivolous claims.
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While watchdog groups warn of conflicts of interest, if not outright influence peddling, Trump has lauded his private club as an exemplary locale for business - financial and politician.
..... In December, [2024] he posted that his Palm Beach oasis was the "Center of the Universe" in Truth Social post in which Trump cryptically egged on supertehc billionaire Bill Gates to visit him. At the moment, other technology moguls, as well as the top business leaders, were making the trek to South Florida to discuss government policy and other matters with the then-president-elect.
..... Others made similar claims.
..... "In additions to all the other things that Mar-a-Lago is, it is a very important institution as a hub for this very Trumpiam coalition that I think is going to be what conservatism looks like for the next generation or more," said Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, in an interview late last year. [2024]
..... During the first 100 days of Trump's second term, super billionaires Elon Musk, then an unpaid special government employee, was a frequent sight at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the government budget.
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In early May, [2025] Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight revealed he had been to Mar-a-Lago to talk about "certain tax provisions" to boost film-making in America. Trump responded in a social media post with a call to impose tariffs on movies being imported into the country, although he did not mention Voight or his meetings with him.
..... CREW's arguments are similar to those the watchdog and other groups raised during Trump's first term in the White House.
..... In one high-profile case, a Government Accountability Office investigation in 2020 found that three Mar-a-Lago club members at the time - marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmuter, physician Bruce Moskowitz and attorney Marc Sherman - influenced Department of Veterans affairs decision-making in five areas, including VA negotiations for a contract for an electronic heath record system, the launching of a medical device registry summit and activities on veterans; suicide prevention and mental health awareness.
..... "Every Trump visit to the Trump property is an advertisement for Trump's business," Maguire said. "Every time he goes to those properties, he is sending a signal that ... people have the possibility of running into me and bending my ear about something, and if you have, enough money, you can get in there, too."
..... Since returning to Washington in January, [2025] Trump visited Palm Beach 10 times and has spent 35 days there through early May. [2025]