Petitioners To Melania Trump: Pay Up Or Move Out

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition urging the United States Senate to force First Lady Melania Trump to move into the White House or make her pay for her New York City security detail.

Currently, Melania and First Son Barron Trump reside in the swanky triplex penthouse at Trump Tower, which costs taxpayers nearly $150,000 per day to keep safe, according to figures released by city officials in February.

"The U.S. taxpayer is paying an exorbitant amount of money to protect the First Lady in Trump Tower, located in New York City. As to help relieve the national debt, this expense yields no positive results for the nation and should be cut from being funded," reads the Change.org petition sent to the Senate and specifically Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

As of this writing the petition has more than 48,000 signatures.

Whether or not the Senate has the legal authority to force somebody to move isn't clear, but Melania and Barron are running up quite the tab with the NYPD — and somebody's going to have to pay for it.

Melania Trump has said she plans to stay in Manhattan at least until Barron finishes the school year in June and plans to fly back a bunch for visits even if she does move to the White House.

Each weekday, Barron is reportedly escorted to and from his home between 56th and 57th streets to his Upper West Side private school, Columbia Grammar and Prep on 93rd Street, by an envoy of Secret Service agents and NYPD officers.

"We estimate that New York City will spend an average of $127,000 to $146,000 a day for the NYPD and $4.5 million annually for FDNY to protect the First Lady and her son while they reside in Trump Tower after the inauguration," James O'Neill, the head of the NYPD, said in a letter he sent to Congress in February, requesting federal funds to cover the costs.

That's on top of $24 million the city already spent to protect the Tower from Election Day through Inauguration Day, the police commissioner said, while then-President-elect Donald Trump was still living in Midtown.

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