Judicial Watch Sues Pentagon, Secret Service for Records of Costs for Presidential and VIP Travel

Information Sought regarding President Trump, Vice President Pence, President Obama, and then- Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Defense Department and the Secret Service (Department of Homeland Security) for records related to presidential, vice presidential, and additional VIP travel between December 2016 and March 2017.  The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:17-cv-00836)).

The suit was filed after the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps failed to respond to FOIA requests filed in February and March 2017 seeking mission taskings, transportation costs, and passenger manifests for:

• Then-U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch, Denver to DC – January 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 3-6, 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 10-13, 2017;
• President Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 17-21, 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 17-21, 2017;
• Vice President Mike Pence to Houston, TX – February 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump to Palm Beach, FL – March 3-6, 2017;
• President Trump to Palm Beach, FL – March 17-20, 2017; and
• all of President Trump’s February 2017 trips on Marine One.

Judicial Watch is suing the U.S. Secret Service after it failed to respond to FOIA requests seeking records of costs for providing security and other services for:

• President Barack Obama to Honolulu, HI – December 2016/January 2017;
• President Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 3-6, 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump, Palm Beach to FL – February 3-6, 2017;
• President Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 10-13, 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump, Palm Beach to FL – February 10-13, 2017;
• President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to Palm Beach, FL – February 17-21, 2017;
• Vice President Pence, Houston to TX – February 2017;
• President Trump and Melania to Palm Beach, FL – March 3-6, 2017;
• President Trump and Melania to Palm Beach, FL – March 17-20, 2017;
• First Lady Melania Trump to, Palm Beach, FL – March 24-27, 2017;
• Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. to Aspen, CO – March 2017.

On May 4, Judicial Watch reported that it obtained records from the Department of the Air Force in response to FOIA requests that show President Trump’s flights to Mar-a-Lago for two weekends (in February and March) cost $1,281,420.00.  (Since 2009, Judicial Watch tracked President Obama’s travel, resulting in a tabulation of at least $96,938,882.51 in taxpayer dollars for Obama family travel during his eight years in office.)

“The public controversy over President Trump’s travel will only increase if the Pentagon and Secret Service won’t disclose basic costs and other details as FOIA law requires,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Extreme transparency should be the Trump administration’s ethic, especially after eight years of lawless Obama secrecy.”

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