Smack dab in the middle of his impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Donald Trump is shamelessly grifting off the taxpayer, spiking room rates at his Doral Resort just ahead of a Republican National Committee meeting there, which he will attend. HuffPost reports that the rates are more than doubling, from $245 to $539 per night for the least expensive rooms. That $539 is just under the maximum $546 per night per diem rate under federal rules.

Trump will only be there for part of one day, not staying overnight. But he has to have advance staff and Secret Service agents there for a few days ahead of time for security and preparation. The Secret Service wouldn't tell HuffPost how many people will be housed there, at $539 a night each for an unspecified amount of time. But it could result in tens of thousands of dollars flowing into Donald Trump's pocket—tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

Of course, the RNC chose Doral as its January meeting site. It’s happy to have its 168 individual members put their money into Trump's pocket. HuffPost estimates that the total cost to the RNC will be $500,000 for food, staff bedrooms, and meeting rooms, in addition to the room cost to the individual attendees. That's on them if they want to keep enriching their dear leader. But they should be forced to reimburse the treasury for the taxpayer costs.

As Robert Weissman, president of the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, told HuffPost, "What better way to defend yourself in an impeachment trial over abuse of power than to jet to your private golf resort on the public dime, secure lots of publicity for the club on the public dime, and then, possibly, rip off taxpayers by forcing them to pay extra for the staff whose costs at the resort are billed to 'we the people.'"