According to a report just published by The Washington Post, the Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute with President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space.
The dispute started when the government agency discovered they were being overcharged for the rented space, two people familiar with the discussions told The Post.
The U.S. military has separately agreed to lease space in Trump Tower for $130,000 a month, according to a lease first reported last month by the Wall Street Journal.
According to The Journal, both agencies were paying far more for their units than other renters had paid for similar units in the building.
On Thursday, there appeared to be a difference of opinion over whether negotiations for a Trump Tower space were still going on.
A spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, which handles government leasing, declined to comment because the search for a command-post space is still active.
“The space is still in the process of being obtained and a final decision has not been made,” spokeswoman Pamela Dixon wrote in an e-mail.
That move has provided a new illustration of the unusual nature of Trump’s tenure, in which the president has retained ownership of a real estate and branding company.
Trump has not visited Trump Tower since he was inaugurated. Meanwhile, the Trump organization was profiting from taxpayers, overcharging the Secret Service for protecting his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron, who lived there for several months, but relocated to Washington in early June.
Still, the Secret Service treats Trump Tower as the president’s permanent home, and has a full-time detail to protect it.
