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LePage Denies Knowing About $1,100-A-Night Stay At Trump Hotel

Robert F. Bukaty
/
Associated Press/file
In this Feb. 13, 2018, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage delivers the State of the State address to the Legislature at the State House in Augusta, Maine.

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he didn't know the state paid as much as $1,100 a night when staying at the Trump International Hotel.  The Maine Sunday Telegram reported the state spent at least $22,000 for stays at the hotel.Appearing on WGAN Radio Monday, LePage called the Telegram story "fiction." And what about the one-night room charge of $1,100? "I'm not aware of ever paying eleven hundred dollars for one night at that hotel."

 

LePage said his administration looked for low rates."We actually went around Washington and we asked many hotels to quote what rates they would give us and we took the lowest rates."

 

He said a scheduler made the arrangements. But he also told the station that if a room night was going to cost $1,100, "Shame on me, because I should have been on top of that."

        

One of LePage's stays at the Trump hotel has been cited by a federal judge as justification for allowing a lawsuit to proceed that alleges hotel room fees amount to an unconstitutional gift to Trump.