American taxpayers footed the bill for $33,000 in Secret Service hotel rooms for 137 consecutive nights in 2017 while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lived in a luxury suite, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

According to federal documents, Mnuchin lived at the Trump International Hotel for several months before finally moving into a home in Washington, DC. The suite was paid for by his own funds, but the security that was to guard the New York financier was paid for on the taxpayer dime.

For the Secret Service room, the Trump hotel charged the "maximum rate that federal agencies were generally allowed to pay in 2017: $242 per night, according to the billing records." Most hotels have a "government rate" for rooms. It's unclear if the Trump hotels abide by that. The total bill came out to $33,154. [snip]

"The Secretary was not aware of what the U.S. Secret Service paid for the adjoining room," a Treasury spokesperson said.

People familiar with Secret Service practices said that was standard procedure when an official stayed in any hotel. During the Clinton administration, for instance, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin lived in the Jefferson Hotel near the White House for years, and the Secret Service used the room next door, according to news reports.

The difference, in this case, is that Mnuchin and the Secret Service were paying for rooms in a hotel owned by the same president who had appointed Mnuchin.