NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s spur-of-the-moment decision to travel to New York for a mixed martial arts fight in 2019 cost taxpayers more than $250,000, as the Secret Service had to scramble to provide security for the president on a particularly busy weekend in the city, according to federal records.
The records, which were obtained by the New York Daily News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal that the Secret Service was only given a one-week heads up on Trump’s one-night stay in Manhattan for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 2, 2019.
The late notice appears to have caused a logistical headache for the Secret Service, which had to find hotel rooms for dozens of agents protecting Trump on the same weekend as the New York City Marathon. Continue reading.