Oregon Dem seeks Trump golf records
USA TODAY reported on club members’ access to president
Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, asked the Trump administration Thursday to turn over the names of visitors to President Trump’s private clubs and the identities of his golfing partners after a USA TODAY investigation into the membership at Trump’s golf courses.
That investigation found that members of the golf clubs Trump visited most often as president — in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia — include at least 50 executives whose companies hold federal contracts and 21 lobbyists and trade group officials. Twothirds played on one of the days the president was there, according to scores they posted online.
Membership lists at Trump’s private clubs are secret. USA TODAY found the names of about 4,500 members by reviewing social media and a public website golfers use to track their handicaps and researched hundreds to determine whether they had business with the government.
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary Elaine Duke, Oregon Sen. Wyden said USA TODAY’s examination “raised the possibility that members of the president’s private clubs could receive special access to the president not available to private citizens.”
White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Joanne Talbot, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, said the agency does not comment on correspondence from members of Congress but would “respond appropriately.”
Wyden asked the administration to provide Congress logs of all visitors and guests to Trump resorts and golf clubs during his presidential visits and the names of Trump’s golfing partners during his time in office.
Trump has visited his private clubs on more than a quarter of the days of his presidency. While there, he routinely mixes his visits with government business, entertaining foreign leaders such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Fla., resort.
The public is slated this week to get another glimpse into the world of a Trump exclusive club. The administration faces a deadline of noon Friday to comply with a court order to release information about people who visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago from January through early March.
The release is the result of a lawsuit brought by three watchdog groups.