--- title: Here’s How Much Melania Trump’s Military Flights Cost Taxpayers Before Her Move to Washington description: First Lady Melania Trump reportedly racked up significant travel costs prior to her move from New York City to Washington, D.C. last year authors: - name: Aric Jenkins url: https://money.com/author/aric-jenkins/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 48 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/aricwithan_a former_staff: true published: '2018-01-29T23:35:18.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T07:44:07.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - onetime - White House word_count: 313 canonical: https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![President Trump Arrives In Florida For Weekend At Mar-A-Lago Estate](https://img.money.com/2018/01/melania-trump-military-flights.jpg) *President Donald Trump, his wife Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump arrive together on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport to spend part of the weekend at Mar-a-Lago resort on March 17, 2017 in West Palm Beach, Florida* First Lady [Melania Trump](https://time.com/5120380/viola-davis-melania-trump-how-to-get-away-with-murder/) racked up a significant amount of travel costs prior to her move from New York City to Washington, D.C. last year, according to a new report. The First Lady took 21 flights over the course of three months to and from New York City, Florida and Washington, resulting in more than $675,000 in expenses, military records show, [the Wall Street *Journal* reports.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/melania-trumps-military-flights-before-her-move-to-washington-cost-more-than-675-000-1517221801) While every modern First Lady has immediately moved to the White House along with her husband, Melania opted to stay in New York so that her and President Donald Trump's son Barron could finish the fifth grade uninterrupted. The trips cover the period from the inauguration in January 2017 to April of that year. Melania moved into the White House in June. The *Journal* received the records via a public records request submitted at the beginning of May. Prior to becoming president, Trump criticized President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, for their travel habits. Trump in 2012 [tweeted multiple times](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/172032149577416705?lang=en) about a ski trip Michelle took to Colorado that cost $83,000 for Secret Service protection and travel expenses, [according to records](https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/michelle-obamas-family-ski-trip-to-aspen-colorado-cost-taxpayers-at-least-89-thousand-say-records-obtained-by-judicial-watch/) kept by conservative group Judicial Watch. Trump [additionally tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/195957597407412225) about Michelle Obama's 2010 trip to Spain with one of her daughters, saying the family "love\[d\] to spend money." Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Melania Trump, told the *Journal*: “It is no secret that Mrs. Trump lived in New York City the first few months of the administration so that her son could finish school. The trips mentioned in this story are examples of Mrs. Trump juggling dual roles—putting her son first while also fulfilling some of her duties as First Lady." Several members of Trump's administration have been criticized over their travel expenses. In September, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price [resigned](https://money.com/tom-price-private-jets-cost/) following an outcry for his frequent use of private and military jets. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Celebrities", "item": "https://money.com/celebrities/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here’s How Much Melania Trump’s Military Flights Cost Taxpayers Before Her Move to Washington" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/", "name": "Here’s How Much Melania Trump’s Military Flights Cost Taxpayers Before Her Move to Washington", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-01-29T23:35:18.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:44:07.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here’s How Much Melania Trump’s Military Flights Cost Taxpayers Before Her Move to Washington", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/01/melania-trump-military-flights.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2097, "caption": "President Trump Arrives In Florida For Weekend At Mar-A-Lago Estate" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aric Jenkins", "url": "https://money.com/author/aric-jenkins/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/aric-jenkins/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/aricwithan_a" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-01-29T23:35:18.000Z", "description": "First Lady Melania Trump reportedly racked up significant travel costs prior to her move from New York City to Washington, D.C. last year", "abstract": "First Lady Melania Trump reportedly racked up significant travel costs prior to her move from New York City to Washington, D.C. last year", "@id": "https://money.com/melania-trump-military-flights/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:44:07.000Z", "wordCount": 313, "keywords": [ "onetime", "White House" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Celebrity", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity" ] } ] } ] } ```