Back in March, President Donald Trump claimed that an expensive renovation to a White House pathway was paid for by himself personally, but on Friday, The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer revealed that the bill was actually footed by taxpayers.
The pathway in question connects the Oval Office to the White House’s central complex, a commute that takes all of 45 seconds to make, according to Scherer. Originally paved with Tennessee flagstone, a flat sedimentary rock, Trump instead wanted the pathway to be redone using “polished African granite, carved in Italy.”
CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe asked Trump in March who would be fitting the bill for the pathway renovation.
“Uh, paid for by… me,” Trump said, according to O’Keefe.
Scherer learned, however, that the renovation project actually cost taxpayers $689,232, and was taken from money earmarked for the National Park Service. Scherer also discovered another $347,503 that had been directed away from the National Park Service to pay for a “rush project at request of [Trump]” to help “affix gold frames and plaques mocking some of his predecessors.”
“This previously undisclosed spending is part of an enormous shift of taxpayer cash away from national parks around the country and into the Washington area,” according to The Atlantic report. “In order to pay for the president’s projects, the parks have had to cancel needed repairs, slash their budgets, and operate with fewer employees.”