Trump drops plan to hold G7 summit at his US resort

US President Donald Trump said that the next G7 summit would not be held at one of his Florida golf clubs, reversing a decision that sparked corruption accusations.

“We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately,” he tweeted on Saturday.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced the Trump National Doral as the venue on Thursday, causing a firestorm among Mr Trump’s Democratic opponents in Congress.

Mr Mulvaney said that the Doral was “the best place” among a dozen US locations considered for the June 10 to 12 gathering next year.

Critics said holding the event at the Doral would violate both the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses designed to shield a US leader from outside influence.

“He is exploiting his office and making official US government decisions for his personal financial gain,” Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said after the Thursday announcement.

Mr Trump is squarely in the sights of House Democrats as he faces an impeachment investigation into allegations that he put pressure on Ukraine to interfere on his behalf in the 2020 US election.

Even before the Doral announcement, politicians were investigating his suggestion at the G7 gathering in August that the next one could be hosted at one of his resorts.

On Friday, Congressional Democrats introduced new legislation called “Trump’s Heist Undermines the G-7 (THUG) Act,” which would have cut off all federal funding for the move to Doral, and required the White House to turn over documents that show how officials decided on the venue.

The measure had a chance of passing the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but its prospects in the Republican-controlled Senate were slim.

The Doral is vital to the Trump Organisation’s finances and was once one of Mr Trump’s biggest moneymakers, but it has lately been in steep decline, The Washington Post reported.

The US last hosted the group of world leaders, then known as the G8 before Russia was excluded in 2012. The venue was Camp David.