President Donald Trump seems to have abused his power yet again, this time by diverting the Army Corps of Engineers from their work replacing beaches damaged by Hurricane Sandy to beautify a beach near Mar-a-Lago.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Army of Corps of Engineers was tasked with replacing beaches destroyed by the storm in an effort to improve public safety and prevent them from being wiped out by future storms. They were still continuing the project until earlier this year when Trump pulled them away and put them to work on a beach near his Mar-a-Lago resort.
According to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW):
It appears that President Trump may have interfered with Army Corps of Engineers’ beach replacement projects in order to protect his own Mar-a-Lago property.
In February, it was reported that The Army Corps of Engineers would pause two emergency beach-replacement projects in New York and instead prioritize Florida beach replacements just a mile away from Trump’s very own Mar-a-Lago. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, these New York projects were meant to protect the beaches from future ‘extreme weather events.’ With no clear rationale for the change in direction, this shift raises questions of whether Trump is interfering with beach-replacement processes to benefit his own properties at the expense of public safety.”
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The Army Corps of Engineers should not be used by Trump as his own personal construction crew. It should be focused on strengthening America’s infrastructure and helping localities rebuild after disasters strike.
Making a beach prettier near Mar-a-Lago so Trump can make more money is a waste of manpower and taxpayer dollars. It also robs New Yorkers of complete Hurricane Sandy recovery.
Taxpayers are already on the hook for over $130 million because of Trump’s golfing trips. Landscaping costs at or near Mar-a-Lago should come out of Trump’s own pocket and the work undertaken by a private company or the state of Florida.
Americans should be outraged by this kind of behavior from Trump. If former President Obama had diverted the Army Corps of Engineers from disaster relief and recovery efforts to improve the view on his own property, conservatives would have thrown a fit.
As CREW concluded, “[t]he public must know if Trump is once again reallocating federal resources to protect one of his properties, as it seems to have been and whether public safety was put at risk.”
But we all know Trump and his cronies will do everything they can to keep these records from being released, and that’s basically the same as admitting guilt.
Featured image via screen capture
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