The US embassy in Mongolia spent $18,714.89 on lodging for a visiting Secret Service team in late August and early September, a federal spending record shows. In its October 27, 2026 investigation, the Financial Times connected that stay to Donald Trump Jr’s hunting trip in the country. The purchase order itself does not say whom the agents were guarding; that link is the FT’s. The record revives a familiar question about the Secret Service Trump Jr detail: what protecting a president’s adult child on private travel costs the public.
Where it stands: No Secret Service comment on the 2026 journey had been reported by October 28, and no overall price tag had been published. The agency’s practice, as described in 2019, is not to discuss protection details.
Trump Jr’s spokesperson told the FT that his relationship with Umar Kremlev, the boxing federation head whom the FT puts at the Uvs camp for a pair of days, is “a personal friendship, not a business relationship.” The FT got no answer from Kremlev or from Arthur Martirosov, the Russian businessman it says accompanied him. Back in 2019, Trump Jr’s side argued that the size and shape of his detail are the agency’s call rather than his.
What does the $18,715 embassy record show?
It shows a hotel purchase, not a person. USAspending.gov, the Treasury-run database of federal spending, lists purchase order 19MG1026P0228 from the US Embassy Ulaanbaatar with the description “HOTEL ROOMS FOR USSS VISIT, 23 AUG – 6 SEP 2026.” USSS is the US Secret Service.
The order was signed on August 20, three days before the stay began. Its value is $18,714.89; the FT rounded up to $18,715. The record lists it as a firm fixed-price order, not competed, with one offer received, and charges it to the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
One detail differs inside the record: the description gives the dates as August 23 to September 6, while the performance-period field runs to September 8. The FT used the description’s dates.
According to the FT, Trump Jr spent that stretch moving from a camp in Uvs province to Bayan-Ölgii province and then back to Ulaanbaatar, where he met Mongolia’s president. The FT wrote that he “travels with a protective Secret Service detail” as a member of the president’s family. For the wider trip, see our report on the FT’s findings.
Why does the Secret Service Trump Jr detail exist at all?
Federal law allows it. The statute that sets the agency’s duties, 18 U.S.C. 3056, authorizes protection for the president and for “the immediate families” of the president.
The same section says that protection for family members “may be declined.” Ron Reagan, son of the 40th president, is the classic example of a child who said no, CBS News pointed out in 2017.
Trump Jr has gone back and forth. According to a 2018 report in The Hill, he reportedly asked in 2017 to be dropped from coverage for privacy reasons, then had it switched back on.
Protection can also outlast a term. An Associated Press report carried by PBS explained that a departing president can stretch relatives’ coverage by as much as half a year; Joe Biden and Donald Trump each used that power. In March 2025 Trump ended the extended details for Hunter and Ashley Biden.
What did earlier Trump Jr trips cost?
The best-known figures for earlier trips came from watchdog records requests, and they came out in pieces. The 2019 Mongolia hunt is the closest comparison.
The watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) obtained Secret Service records showing $17,704 for that trip, then a second batch putting the agency’s full cost at $76,859.36. Adding State Department spending, CREW estimated the total “could be as high as $117,053.”
| Trip or period | Reported cost | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dubai, Feb. 2017 (Trump Jr and Eric Trump) | $215,000+ | The Hill, from records |
| Mongolia 2019, first release | $17,704 | CREW, from Secret Service |
| Mongolia 2019, agency total | $76,859.36 | CREW records |
| Mongolia 2019, with State Dept. | up to $117,053 | CREW estimate |
| 2021 extension, Trump Jr | $213,000 | Washington Post |
| Mongolia 2026, embassy hotels | $18,714.89 | USAspending; tied to him by FT |
Other trips drew larger sums. A Dubai golf-club opening in February 2017, attended by both Trump Jr and Eric Trump, ran the agency more than $215,000, according to records reported by The Hill. A Washington Post analysis later found that the six-month extension of protection after the first term cost $213,000 for Trump Jr alone.
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Totals for protecting the president’s adult children in 2025 or 2026 had not been published as of October 28.
What do watchdogs and the agency say about these costs?
CREW, for one, has not objected to the protection itself. “While there is nothing wrong with the son of a president receiving protection from the Secret Service, it is fair for taxpayers to have questions about the cost for certain activities,” CREW wrote about the 2019 hunt.
Speaking to CBS in 2017, the ethics law scholar Kathleen Clark said the bill “is absolutely something I think the public and Congress has the right to know.”
The Secret Service has defended its spending in general terms. Asked about the 2021 extension costs, it said only that it “balances operational security requirements with judicious allocation of resources,” according to the Post.
What is still unknown about the 2026 bill?
Most of it. The embassy order covers hotel rooms only. It says nothing about flights, vehicles, overtime or how many agents traveled, and no other 2026 records about the trip were public by October 28.
It is also not known whether State Department staff helped with logistics, as CREW found they did in 2019. The order on file covers lodging alone, booked for the dates in its description.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the Secret Service spend on Trump Jr’s 2026 Mongolia trip?
The only public figure is an embassy purchase order for $18,714.89 in hotel rooms for a Secret Service visit covering Aug. 23 to Sept. 6. The record does not name Trump Jr; the Financial Times tied it to his trip. No total had been published as of October 28.
Does Donald Trump Jr get Secret Service protection?
Yes. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. 3056, authorizes protection for the immediate family of a sitting president, and family members may decline it. The FT reported that he travels with a protective detail.
How much did Trump Jr’s 2019 Mongolia hunt cost taxpayers?
CREW obtained Secret Service records showing a full agency cost of $76,859.36, and estimated that the total including State Department spending could be as high as $117,053.
Who pays for Secret Service protection of a president’s children?
Public money does. In Mongolia, the USAspending record shows the hotel order was placed by the US embassy and funded through a State Department bureau. Costs for individual trips are not routinely published.
Can a president’s adult child refuse Secret Service protection?
Yes. Section 3056 lets relatives decline coverage. Ron Reagan did so, and The Hill reported that Trump Jr reportedly asked to drop his in 2017 before it was reinstated.
Sources
- Inside Donald Trump Jr’s Mongolian hunting trip with a Kremlin-linked businessman — Financial Times, October 27, 2026
- Purchase order 19MG1026P0228 — USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), signed August 20, 2026
- 18 U.S.C. 3056: Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service — GovInfo (U.S. Code, 2023 edition), 2023 edition
- Donald Trump Jr. Went to Mongolia, Got Special Treatment From the Government and Killed an Endangered Sheep — ProPublica, December 11, 2019
- CREW requests records on Don Jr.’s Mongolian sheep hunting trip — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, updated 2021
- Don Jr’s Mongolian hunting trip cost $60k more than Secret Service originally admitted — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, June 2020
- The State Department helped to arrange Don Jr.’s Mongolian sheep hunt. But not his meeting with the Mongolian president. — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2021
- Secret Service spent nearly $250,000 on protection for Trump’s sons during overseas trips — The Hill, July 2018
- The cost to taxpayers of protecting Trump’s kids on overseas business trips — CBS News, February 2017
- Trump gave six months of extra Secret Service protection to his kids and three officials — it cost taxpayers $1.7 million — The Washington Post (via The Seattle Times), 2021
- Trump says he’s ending Secret Service protection for Biden’s adult children, Hunter and Ashley — PBS NewsHour (Associated Press), March 18, 2025
This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.