Covering Trump

County gets a little financial help.

Palm Beach County is getting a little money to cover costs when President Donald Trump visits.

The county received $1,200 for allowing reporters to use the board room in the main library, across the street from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

Trump has spent hours at the golf club on each of his seven visits to Mar-a-Lago, his “Weekend White House” in Palm Beach. About 15 reporters have been stationed at the library while Trump is at the golf club, a library official said.

Taxpayers aren’t footing the bill, assistant county administrator Todd Bonlarron said. Instead, the money is coming from funds media organizations pool together to pay for reporters’ travel expenses, he said.

The White House handles the billing, Bonlarron said.

The payment is a minuscule fraction of what Palm Beach County officials calculate they are owed. The total tab of overtime and other expenses related to protecting Trump is nearing $4 million, according to the county’s estimate.

But Bonlarron said this arrangement could be a model for future reimbursement.

“They’ve recognized there

are expenses, they’ve set up a mechanism for reimbursement to local government and it works,” Bonlarron said.

The $1,200 covers use of the library during Trump’s first four weekend visits — three in February and one in March — since being sworn in Jan. 20.

Michael Haidet, a White House official who handled the billing, did not return a message left Monday seeking comment.

A White House official came to the library in February and agreed the county should get $150 for each day reporters are there, said Adam Davis, head librarian at the main branch.

The arrangement is in line with how the media’s expenses have been handled in the past, said Hannah Salem, a White House staffer.

Reporters use the library’s board room, and on occasion, the press pool has worked out of the library a few hours before it opens at noon on Sundays, creating some additional costs for the county, Davis said.

Davis expects the payments will continue to be made whenever the White House press pool uses the library during Trump’s presidency.

“I never expected this,” he said. “I am happy the library can be used in such a way to support a free press.”