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Published December 23, 2015
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed reports by Press Trust of India that President Barack Obama's trip to Mumbai and Indonesia would cost the U.S. $200 million per day.
During Thursday's briefing, Gibbs stated that this report was "simply not true."
While Gibbs maintained that he would not go into the actual figure of what it costs to move the president from one country to another, he did state the costs are no more then what it took to travel former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush.
PTI released the article on the president's trip on Tuesday and made additional claims that roughly "3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President."
White House spokesperson Tommy Vietor said, "The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality."
Vietor remarked that due to security reasons he could not get into trip details but added the "numbers are wildly inflated."
In another article PTI published Thursday, the report declared the President would "be protected by a fleet of 34 warships."
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell was quick to dispel these accusations during Thursday's briefing.
"I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we are deploying ten percent of the Navy, some 34 ships, and an aircraft carrier in support of the president's trip to Asia -- that's just comical. Nothing close to that is being done."
In a statement also disregarding the PTI projections, Gordon Johndroe, former deputy White House spokesperson under President George W. Bush said, "I am positive there will not be '34 warships' involved in this trip."
Both Morrell and Gibbs reminded the press during their briefings that while the projected trip costs were inaccurate, Mumbai was once a target of terrorist organizations. The secretaries were referring to the November 26, 2009 attack that took place at Taj Mahal hotel, the same hotel President Obama is scheduled to stay. While cost details are not being released for the President's trip this Friday, the White House has stated that they are taking all necessary precautions to keep the president protected while abroad.
Mike Emanuel and Justin Fishel also contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-dod-dismiss-asia-trips-rumored-price-tag