Just hours after declaring a national emergency on border security, President Donald Trump headed to his Mar-a-Lago resort, marking his 223rd day on one of his properties.
NBC News determined the tally, which it has been keeping since Trump’s inauguration. Of the 223 days, the president has spent 168 at his golf courses.
Trump flew down to Florida on Friday following his Rose Garden speech announcing the emergency declaration, meant to access billions in additional funding for border wall construction. He also signed a congressional spending plan that day to avoid a second government shutdown. The deal allocates $1.375 billion to the southern barrier. However, Trump argued in his speech that more was needed, claiming there was a crisis of drugs and crime pouring into the U.S.
The president’s trip came as a surprise to some Twitter users, who were baffled that amid a supposed emergency, Trump was heading out of the White House:
A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office last month indicates federal agencies spent roughly $13.6 million on just four of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trips. The bulk of the costs were incurred by the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, paying for $5.1 million and $8.5 million, respectively.