President Donald Trump Blames Democrats And Media For Doral Decision
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced that he reconsidered holding the Group of 7 (G7) summit in June at his luxury Doral property in Miami after receiving plenty of blowback over possible emoluments clause violations. On Monday morning, the president tweeted about the change of course.
“Doral in Miami would have been the best place to hold the G-7, and free, but too much heat from the Do Nothing Radical Left Democrats & their Partner, the Fake News Media! I’m surprised that they allow me to give up my $400,000 Plus Presidential Salary! We’ll find someplace else!”
Monday morning’s tweet wasn’t the president’s first about his choice to find somewhere else to hold the event. In a series of three tweets on Saturday, Trump suggested that they are even considering Camp David for the event. On Sunday, the POTUS also mentioned that he would have hosted the G7 at Doral for free without taking any profits.
The New York Times reported that not only did Democrats and the media scrutinize Trump’s decision to award his brand the contract to host the event, but also many Republicans felt they couldn’t defend the president’s choice. For them, it crossed a line causing Constitutional problems with the emoluments clause.
“I think there was a lot of concern,” said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a member of the Republicans’ leadership team.
Cole felt that the Republican Party did not need the outcry over Doral in the midst of the other impeachment related things it is handling right now.
Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, revealed that President Trump was genuinely surprised at the level of pushback he received over choosing Doral to host the upcoming G7 summit. On Sunday, Mulvaney told Fox News that the president is still in the hospitality business, which is part of the reason he was upset over Doral not hosting the meeting.
“At the end of the day, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business, and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world, and he wanted to put the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could,” said Mulvaney.
Typically, presidents have chosen the host city for the G7, but the State Department decides the hotel. As many as 7,000 people participate in the event, which brings a high cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars. However, some experts who spoke with The New York Times felt that Trump’s tweets about changing his mind about Doral show he does not understand the ethical concerns the choice of his own resort raised.
