Donald Trump has spent almost a third of his time in office in his Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago as the “Winter White House” has become the US President’s weekend getaway.
Since his inauguration, Donald Trump would have spent 14 days in the 126-room estate, where his family enjoys private quarters, out of his first 44 days in office.
White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted the ratio of President Trump’s time in Mar-a-Lago corresponded to nearly a third of his time in office.
“By the end of the weekend, Pres Trump will have spent all or part of 14 days at Mar-a-Lago. Amounts to 31% of his days in office, so far.”
President Trump flew out to the Palm Beach resort on Friday for the fourth weekend since the inauguration.
Speaking at St Andrews Catholic School in Orlando Florida at a Teaching Conference, before he heading to Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump said: “Florida, to me, is a very, very special, special state. I mean, I know those people back there -- they know why I like it so much.
“We've had a lot of success in Florida and I love it. It's my second home. I'm here all the time. We have the Southern White House in Florida. (Laughter.) And we get a lot of work done -- believe me, there's not rest at the Southern White House -- it's all work.”
But President Trump’s regular visits to the Florida resort, he dubbed “the Winter White House”, is costing the taxpayers millions.
An estimate by the Government Accounting Office has found trips to Mar-a-Lago could be costing the US taxpayer more than $3 million (£2.4m) per visit.
The travel and security bills for Mr Trump, his family and his staff is racking up. Security has been a particular issue on the resort and during Mr Trump's visits local police and the Coast Guard, who patrol the exposed shoreline which Mar-a-Lago backs on to, are required at the ready.
But Mr Trump previously said he wanted to use the resort to host world leaders.
Barack Obama's travel and safety expenses were about $97m over eight years but an estimation by the Washington Post found that by mid-February, Mr Trump's bill was already $10m.
