LePage: ‘Shame On Me’ For Being Blind To Taxpayer-Funded Trump Hotel Rate

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage denies being aware of his administration spending $1,100 a night on rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., according to an interview with WGAN-FM Monday.

LePage dismissed the Sunday reports by the Press Herald and the Maine Sunday Telegram — which showed his administration billing Maine taxpayers at least $22,000 for room reservations and other expenses over a two year period — as “fiction” and said that if he had known what the rate was, he “would’ve questioned” it.

When pressed on logistics, LePage said that a scheduler was responsible for booking the hotel rooms in Washington.

“Incidentally, this is the beauty about it, when the Trump hotel opened – I think it’s rated a four-star, not a five-star — they gave promotional rates which were some of the best rates in Washington,” LePage added.

LePage doubled down on his denial by claiming that he is “very cheap with the public’s money” and is “far more generous” with his own money.

“If we paid $1,100 for a hotel room in one night, shame on me because I wasn’t aware of it and shame on me because I should’ve been on top of that,” LePage said. “A matter of fact, there was one time we went some place and I find out what we were paying for the tickets and I went ballistic on the staff.”

When asked why he thinks the reports came out after he had left office, LePage said it has nothing to do with his being “outspoken.”

“It has everything to do that I have an ‘R’ next to my name — that’s the fact,” LePage said, pinning the reason on his Republican affiliation. “They are 100 percent biased and if you have an ‘R’ next your name, you’re in trouble.”