Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre Township on Sept. 3, 2022. Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Tuesday said the township recently received payment in full of $9,820.62 to cover police and public works overtime at Trump’s ‘Save America’ rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
                                 AP file photo

‘Surprised’ Wilkes-Barre Township Chief reports Trump paid rally bill

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Will Clark said former President Donald Trump has paid his bill — this time.

Chief Clark said the township recently received payment in full of $9,820.62 to cover police and public works overtime at Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena in September, according to a story by the online news site Insider.

“Apparently (Trump) has been running a tab across the country,” Chief Clark said. “But this time, we got paid.”

Chief Clark said he did nothing out of the ordinary — he simply sent a bill to the Trump campaign and, he said to his surprise, a check was received for payment.

Past rallies

Clark said when Trump held a rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in 2018, when former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta of Hazleton was running for the U.S. Senate, the township was not reimbursed for the $22,000 expense incurred to provide additional security.

The chief said the township was reimbursed for Trump’s visit in October of 2016 of $10,683.

Clark also noted that when the-sitting President George W. Bush came to town in 2007, the township was not reimbursed. Clark explained that a municipality can not bill the U.S. Secret Service for additional security for a sitting President. But when a candidate rather than sitting President the question become should the host municipality us taxpayers’ money to pay for additional security.

“The question became, is that fair?” Chief Clark asked.

Insider: Many cities not paid

Insider’s Nicole Gaudiano wrote about Trump’s payment to Wilkes-Barre Township in a story posted on the site Tuesday.

Gaudiano’s story said: “Though Trump has conducted multiple rallies, Save America PAC appears to have paid for police security services in one location during the 2022 election cycle — Wilkes-Barre Township in Pennsylvania, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures reviewed by Insider. It’s unclear how or why the town apparently got lucky with Trump, who’s now preparing to run for president again in 2024.”

The report adds, “During Trump’s campaigns, more than a dozen cities across the nation — including Minneapolis; Spokane, Washington; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Erie, Pennsylvania — said the Trump campaign wouldn’t pay police and public safety bills that together totalled nearly $2 million. All the while, Trump promoted himself as a pro-police candidate who routinely chided Democrats as soft on crime and anti-law enforcement.”

Trump’s office, the Republican National Committee, and Barletta’s office did not respond to a request for comment, the story reported.

Clark told Insider that the event required seven additional police officers, 15 local county sheriff’s deputies who assisted and overtime costs for Department of Public Works employees, who used dump trucks to temporarily block off a highway for Trump’s entrance.