Trump ditches plans to host G7 summit at his Florida golf resort
US President Donald Trump has reversed his plan to hold the next Group of Seven world leaders’ meeting at his Florida golf resort next year, after stinging criticism.
Mr Trump faced accusations he was using the presidency to enrich himself by hosting the international summit at the private Doral resort, which is owned by his family.
He backtracked in typical style, tweeting: “Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump national d oral, miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020.”
He said his administration “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately”.
The striking reversal raises further doubts about the position of the president’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who held a press conference on Thursday announcing the choice of Doral for the summit. He insisted his staff had concluded it was “far and away the best physical facility”. Mr Mulvaney said the White House reached that determination after visiting 10 sites across the country.
In the same press conference, he aknowledged a “quid pro quo” was at work when Mr Trump held up US aid to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine’s investigation of Democrats and the 2016 elections. Mr Mulvaney later claimed his comments had been misconstrued but not before drawing the ire of the president and frustration from other senior aides. In August Mr Trump hinted at the selection of his property to host the summit when he mentioned it was on the shortlist and praised its facilities and proximity to Miami’s international airport.
His comments, more than a month before the official announcement, drew instant criticism from good governance groups and Democrats, who said it raised concerns that Mr Trump was using the White House to boost his personal finances. An hour before his announcement, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned the choice of Doral. “Hosting the G7 at Trump’s hotel? A president should never be able to use the office for personal gain,”
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Mr Trump’s reversal “is a bow to reality but does not change how astonishing it was that a president ever thought this was appropriate, or that it was something he could get away with.”
The president is already facing a congressional committee investigation into a potential conflict of interest over military spending at an airport, said to be integral to his lossmaking golf resort.