No one quite bought it when Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, claimed the vice president was staying at one of Donald Trump’s properties on his trip to Ireland due to safety considerations, or that the president hadn’t made a “command” that he do so, so much as a “suggestion.” (“Well, you should stay at my place.”) For one thing, the Trump International Resort in Doonbeg is nearly 180 miles from Dublin, requiring Pence to commute to his diplomatic meetings in Dublin by plane. Perhaps sensing the skepticism, on Wednesday Pence’s office issued a follow-up statement to “clarify the decision to stay at Trump National in Doonbeg,” saying it was “solely a decision by the Office of the Vice President and was based on the requirement to find accommodations near the vice president’s ancestral hometown that could satisfy official meetings on both coasts of the Emerald Isle. At no time did the president direct our office to stay at his Doonbeg resort and any reporting to the contrary is false,” the statement continued.

At this point, of course, lining the president’s pockets with taxpayer money is virtually administration protocol. In the first eight months of Trump’s presidency, the Department of Defense charged $138,0000 on department-issued credit cards during stays at various Trump resorts. (The White House did not respond to a request for comment from CNN at the time.) In April 2017, according to ProPublica, several Trump staffers and allies helped themselves to $1,000 worth of liquor at Mar-a-Lago—paid for by the White House. More recently, Attorney General Bill Barr made plans for a $30,000 holiday party at the Trump Hotel in D.C.

Pence’s circle, too, has demonstrated a preference for Trump properties. According to ProPublica, Pence’s political action committee has spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars at Trump’s numerous resorts. (Of course, in those instances Pence’s donors, rather than American taxpayers, were footing the bill.) So naturally, the suggestion that Trump had no influence whatsoever on Pence’s decision to patronize Doonbeg was bound to raise a few eyebrows. Apparently the whole kerfuffle has drawn the president’s notice too. Sources told CNN that he’s “irked” and “exasperated” by the negative press stirred up by his good intentions:

A person familiar with the President’s thinking explained the pattern as Trump’s genuine belief that his locations are the best place for aides to lodge, and makes similar recommendations to his friends who do not work for him.

As Trump told reporters on Wednesday, “People like my product, what can I tell you? I can’t help it.”

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