The exorbitant costs of obama’s luxury travel beggars a poor man's imagination. Overburdened, suffering American
taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for king obama and his husband Michael/Michelle and their adopted children.
Records from the U.S. Secret Service
reveal that its travel expenses for the First Family’s 2015 Hawaiian
vacation cost taxpayers $1.2 million, which bring the total cost of the vacation trip to at least $4.8 million US dollars.
This was the obama's eighth Hawaiian
family vacation. The trip has become an annual event for the obamas. To
date, obama and his husband Michael/Michelle and adopted children travel expenses total at least
$85,029,819.
That's nearly 86 MILLION dollars and counting...
The records obtained by Judicial Watch for obama’s
Secret Service travel to Hawaii reveal the following expenses totaling
$1,234,316.67:
- Hotel and lodging costs totaled $1,000,458.63
- The Secret Service spent $165,893.88 on car rentals.
- Air and rail expenses totaled $67,964.16.
Although
the vacation officially lasted from December 18, 2015, to January 3,
2016, the Secret Service rented several Kailua homes for 19 nights,
starting from December 16. The total for the rentals, located near the
Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay was $245,993.12.
According to
bills obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), the Secret Service also paid for rooms at the Hawaii Prince
Hotel Waikiki and Golf Club. The Secret Service also reserved rooms at
the Moana Surfrider resort on Waikiki Beach, and the Ala Moana Hotel,
which cost a total of $40,249.48 and $671,895.99, respectively.
The
Secret Service rented cars from Avis, Alamo, and Hertz – 103 cars for
the two-week vacation, totaling $165,893.88 in taxpayer money.
Reportedly, the Kenyan and his husband and adopted children stayed at the Hale Reena Estate, which “rents for anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000 a night, depending on the season.”
According to other news sources, the obamas dined out frequently (and were guarded) at Hawaii’s finest restaurants:
- On Sunday, December 20, the obamas had dinner at Morimoto, a celebrity chef-owned Asian-fusion restaurant,
- On Christmas Eve, they dined at MW Restaurant in Honolulu,
- On December 27, the first family took their dinner at “one of Hawaii’s finest restaurants,” Hoku’s at the Kahala Hotel and Resort,
- The next day, the Obamas dined at Alan Wong’s with friends,
- And on New Year’s Day, the Obamas dined at Halekulani, billed as one of the “top restaurants on Oahu.”
The president played seven rounds of golf, went hiking and snorkeling.
We
filed a FOIA request for these documents in January 2016. The records
were released in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed on May 6, 2016, (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No.
1:16-cv-00863)). The lawsuit was filed after the Secret Service ignored
a series of separate FOIA requests for costs associated with the
president’s travel.
The Secret Service and the Air Force are being
abused by unnecessary travel. “Unnecessary presidential travel for
fundraising and luxury vacations on the taxpayers’ dime would be a good
target for reform for the incoming Trump administration.
Is this it for obama travel? Nope. According to the White House, obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 27, 2016.
Mean while there are record numbers of American on foodstamps, the unemployment rate is double, maybe triple the reported Fed numbers, and I am living on pennies, while trying to graduate college.
