Trump spends $1.75m on White House renovations

It is possible that a large portion of the expenditures were from much-needed repairs to the White House that Mr Obama had put off during his presidency.

The White House underwent much-needed renovations earlier this year (Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s administration has spent $1.75m on new furniture, repairs, and decorations for the White House since taking over the Oval Office earlier this year.

A report from NBC News found that the biggest expense came for executive office furniture, which included a $240,000 expenditure for “wood office furniture”. Other major expenses were doled out for custom rugs, “furniture pedestals”, and several thousand dollars worth of wallpaper.

It is likely that a big chunk of the expenditures were related to “much-needed” repairs made to the White House when Mr Trump went on a two week vacation in August. Those repairs had been put off by Mr Obama.

The single largest expense that has been incurred since Mr Trump took office was for a $300,000 contract with a vendor for office walls.

The expenditures, detailed in government documents, are more than former President Barack Obama’s administration had spent on sprucing up the White House — but not by much. At this point, the Obama administration had spent $1.5m on similar expenditures.

It is not clear if Mr Trump followed in Mr Obama’s footsteps in paying for a portion of the redecorating costs himself, but a White House spokesperson told NBC that they were looking into the issue.

Trump's expenses include $5,000 for wallpaper, $17,000 for custom rugs, and $7,000 for “furniture pedestals”. Another item on the list was a $12,800 bill for a custom conference table from a company that had been commissioned to build a conference table by former President Richard Nixon (that company’s website says that Nixon paid for his conference table on his own).

Spending during the Trump administration has been closely scrutinized by the news media, which has noted frequently that the President’s frequent trips to his private resorts, including one in Florida and another in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Others in Mr Trump’s administration have also been scrutinized for the costs incurred with their travel. That scrutiny resulted in the resignation of Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services secretary who chartered costly private jets.