Trump trade secretary spent almost $1 million on office furniture—but blames Obama
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Are you sick of hearing about Trump appointees spending curiously large amounts of taxpayer money on things like private jet flights, barely disguised vacations, or new office furniture? Yeah, too bad—because it turns out Trump's U.S. Trade Representative,Trump trade secretary spent almost $1 million on office furniture—but blames Obama
Are you sick of hearing about Trump appointees spending curiously large amounts of taxpayer money on things like private jet flights, barely disguised vacations, or new office furniture? Yeah, too bad—because it turns out Trump's U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, went on quite the office shopping spree. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spent more than $917,000 to furnish the two trade offices near the White House, according to contracts reviewed by The Post. That’s a significant increase compared to the last two trade reps. It's not just a significant increase, it's an enormous increase. Ron Kirk, President Barack Obama’s first trade ambassador, spent $237,000 on office furniture during the first 15 months of his term. His successor, Ambassador Michael Froman, spent $151,000 during a comparable time span, records show. All right, but at least the expenditures weren't for his own private office, right? They were for things like 60 sit-stand desks, top-notch Herman Miller office chairs, and nearly half a million bucks to a furniture company that «specializes in rich wood-finished desks and high-grade furniture fit for bosses.» That might or might not be overlavish spending; it's suspicious, but not overtly crooked. What might tip the scales on that is if Lighthizer's office tried to deflect blame with a thoroughly debunkable lie about it being Barack Obama's fault. Which they did, claiming that it was a «longtime, planned project» of the Obama administration—and the Obama team isn't just denying that such a thing existed, they're openly mocking Lighthizer's claim that the Trump administration's hands were tied on this one. Read more