Trump to hold G-7 Summit at his Miami-area golf resort
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has awarded the 2020 G-7 Summit of world leaders to his own private company, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump Doral golf resort outside Miami, the White House announced on Thursday.
The G-7 summit draws hundreds of diplomats, journalists and security personnel, as well as a worldwide spotlight.
The announcement to choose the president’s own club as the site of an international summit comes as Mr. Trump is in the midst of twin crises that are consuming his presidency — a hasty and confused American retreat in Syria, and a growing impeachment inquiry in Congress.
“Doral was far and away the best physical facility for this meeting,” acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said in announcing the decision. He said the administration examined 10 sites. Mr. Mulvaney quoted one site-selection official as saying, “It’s almost like they built this facility to host this type of event.”
Mr. Trump bought Doral, a golf resort, in 2012.
The G-7 summit rotates among sites chosen by the seven member countries and the European Union. The last time it was held in the U.S., in 2012, then-President Barack Obama held it at the government-owned retreat at Camp David in Maryland. In 2004, then-President George W. Bush held it at the exclusive, isolated resort of Sea Island, Georgia.
This year, Mr. Trump had hinted repeatedly that he intended to award the event to himself.
At the G-7 summit in August in Biarritz, France, Mr. Trump said his aides had examined other sites and told him that Doral is the best. The site is set among office parks, in an inland area near the Miami airport.
“They went to places all over the country, and they came back and they said, ‘This is where we’d like to be,’” Mr. Trump said then. “It’s not about me. It’s about getting the right location.” He particularly praised the club’s ample parking.
Doral is a major part of Mr. Trump’s portfolio: It provides more revenue to him than any other hotel or golf club, and he took out $125 million in loans to buy it.
Mr. Trump’s son Eric Trump — who helps run the Trump Organization while his father is president — recently said that if Doral were the choice, Mr. Trump would not over-charge his own government.
“It actually would have saved the U.S. a tremendous amount of money in that they wouldn’t be paying for massive amounts of rooms with some hospitality company that’s going to milk the hell out of the U.S. government,” he said.