Mnuchin aims to wait until end of 2020 to disclose Secret Service costs for Trump’s travel: report

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is aiming to wait until after the 2020 the election to disclose the Secret Service costs for the travel of President Trump and his family, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The secretary is seeking a delay as Democrats push him to release the price of travel within 120 days after passing a bill that would bring the Secret Service back under the Treasury Department’s authority, people familiar with the discussions told the Post. 

Mnuchin has been negotiating legislation with the Senate to move the agency from the Department of Homeland Security. He has supported the publication of Secret Service funding but says the first report should come out in December 2020 at the earliest, according to the newspaper.

After Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) proposed the release of costs a few months after the bill’s passing, Mnuchin said in a December letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is against the earlier timetable.

A Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed in a statement to The Hill that Mnuchin has been cooperating with Secret Service Director James Murray and congressional committees on a bill to transfer the Secret Service.

“This transfer will improve the Secret Service’s ability to carry out its integrated, dual mission of protection and investigation and provide Treasury with a well-established enforcement capability to better protect the Nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems,” the spokesperson said.

“Conversations about the return of the Secret Service to the Treasury Department are ongoing, and we decline to comment on individual aspects of those conversations,” a Treasury official told The Hill.

Democrats are arguing that the public has a right to know how much the president’s travel costs as he frequents his properties in Florida and New Jersey. The Post has recorded 50 visits to his properties outside Washington so far. 

Trump, who promised to “rarely leave the White House,” was estimated to have spent $13.6 million in one month in 2017 on Secret Service and defense needs during travel. His sons have also traveled internationally, but it is unknown how much their total travel has cost. 

The president is designated one primary residence to be protected by the Secret Service with semiannual cost reports to Congress. These were not submitted in 2016 or 2017, and the following were delayed by months.

The Secret Service declined to comment to The Hill. The White House declined to tell the Government Accountability Office how much the president’s travel costs, according to the Post.

Updated Thursday at 10:48 a.m.