STERLING, Va. – President Donald Trump on Friday again used taxpayer resources to promote his personal for-profit business, flying Marine One from the White House to his Virginia golf course to speak at the ongoing Saudi Arabia-backed golf tournament there, and bringing the taxpayer total for travel and security for such trips to nearly $18 million.

Trump’s golf courses have partnered with LIV Golf, which was heavily funded by the Saudi government and is now in deep financial trouble, since its inception in 2021 and have hosted multiple tournaments. This is Trump’s second taxpayer-funded trip to promote an LIV event since he retook office last January.

Between those trips, a recent visit to a PGA tournament at his course in Doral, Florida, and other trips to promote his own financial interests, Trump has spent a total of $17.7 million of taxpayer money for travel and security during his second term.

Trump’s White House did not respond to HuffPost queries about what, if any, benefit there was to American taxpayers from his visit to the LIV event and whether he planned to reimburse the government for the cost of flying him there using the contingent of Marine helicopters at his disposal.

“With the country at war in the Middle East, and Americans facing a worsening affordability crisis, the president is spending his time making promotional appearances at his properties and events that boost his bottom line,” said Jordan Libowitz with the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “The economy looks great when you skip out on D.C. to have foreign countries and foreign nationals line your pockets.”

Based on a General Accountability Office analysis of Trump’s first-term trips to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, country club and its detailed breakdown of the various expenses, a round-trip helicopter flight to his Virginia golf course costs taxpayers approximately $115,000.

Trump, unlike every other president in at least a century, has openly used his office to promote his personal financial interests. The biggest moneymaker for him has been his crypto exchange, World Liberty Financial, which may be making him billions.

His higher-profile business appearances, though, have been to promote his golf businesses and his crypto “meme” coins.

In April 2025, he flew Air Force One to Miami to take him to a dinner for a previous LIV tournament at his golf resort in nearby Doral. The total cost to taxpayers for travel and security: roughly $2.7 million.

On May 22, 2025, he flew aboard Marine One to his Sterling golf course, another $115,000 trip, for a dinner for those who purchased the most Trump tokens — which have zero intrinsic value and whose price has plummeted since Trump unveiled them just before retaking office.

Last month, he flew Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago to speak at a luncheon, again for those who purchased his meme coins. Because his Palm Beach country club is especially expensive to protect, that trip cost taxpayers at least $3.4 million.

Last weekend, Trump flew to his golf resort in Doral to attend a PGA tournament. That piggy-backed on a $3.4 million golf trip to Mar-a-Lago and added about $1.7 million in expenses for the additional flight to Miami and the security there.

But by far the most expensive business promotional trip was a roughly $9.7 million excursion to Scotland last summer to attend the opening of a golf course at his resort in Aberdeen. Trump had his White House staff, paid for by taxpayers, carry the event live.

Separate from his trips to promote his businesses, Trump has also spent over $100 million of taxpayer money to play golf at his various courses since returning to office, a HuffPost analysis found.

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