Donald Trump Jr.’s Trip to Mongolia To Hunt Sheep Reportedly Cost Taxpayers $75,000

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump Jr.’s eight-day trip to Mongolia to hunt rare sheep and meet with the country’s president last August reportedly cost taxpayers more than $75,000, according to documents obtained by a nonpartisan government watchdog.

On that trip, Trump Jr. reportedly hunted alongside an unnamed Republican donor and was awarded a special permit for hunting an endangered species of sheep after he had already killed the animal, per ProPublica. The government of Mongolia deny their claims. The taxpayer’s price tag for the trip came from Secret Service protection. Don Jr. told CNN that he personally paid for other expenses of the trip.

Don Jr. has been under fire for his hunting trips since 2017, when President Donald Trump lifted restrictions on hunting elephant trophies in two African countries after his son was pictured with big carcasses. Hosts like Chris Matthews and mostly recently Howard Stern have attacked Don Jr. for his hunting habits.

In November 2017, Matthews called Don Jr. “21st-century Tarzans of the jungle” and said Trump’s sons “kill for the photo-op. Kill large, African animals for the bragging rights. For the pictures of themselves.”

Last month, Stern mocked Don Jr. and sarcastically called him “macho” for his hunting pictures. “You can’t argue with that kind of bravery,” Stern sarcastically said in May. “Even the guys in Afghanistan right now are going ‘Jesus Christ, what a kid.’”