Trump drops plan to host the G-7 at his golf resort
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Saturday abruptly reversed his plan to hold the next Group of Seven world leaders’ meeting at his Doral, Fla., golf resort next year.
Accused of using the presidency to enrich himself by hosting the international summit at a private resort owned by his family, Trump announced a rare backtrack Saturday night.
“Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020,” Trump tweeted. He said his administration “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.”
The president’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, announced the choice of Doral for the summit at a news conference Wednesday, saying that White House staff had concluded it was “far and away the best physical facility.” Mulvaney said that determination was reached after visiting 10 sites across the country.
Trump had been the first administration official to publicly f loat the selection of his property to host the summit when in August he mentioned it was on the short list 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 Trump was using the White House to boost his personal finances.
The criticism did not die down, even as Trump insisted he would host the summit at cost, though he refused to disclose financial details.
An hour before Trump’s announcement, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned the selection of Doral for the summit. “Hosting the G-7 at Trump’s hotel? A president should never be able to use the office for personal gain,” said the former vice president.
On Thursday, Mulvaney had discounted Camp David, the governmentowned presidential retreat in Maryland, as a site for the summit: “I understand the folks who participated in it hated it and thought it was a miserable place to have the G-7.”
Mulvaney said then that unspecified sites in Hawaii and Utah had also been on the short list. It was unclear if they were still under consideration. for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, allowed eligible individuals to request temporary relief from deportation and apply for authorization to work in the U.S.
Obama took the action after Congress had declined to pass the Dream Act, legislation that would have helped a similar group of migrants. Republicans argued that Obama overstepped his constitutional authority. In November, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the Trump administration’s plan to end the program, which has protected roughly 700,000 young immigrants from deportation. Lower courts have so far blocked the administration from ending the program.
Obama also issued proclamations to declare new national monuments in Utah and Nevada in his final days in office. In all, he issued 34 monument proclamations. Some of the largest monument designations were heavily criticized by state and local officials.
Rudalevige said that Trump appears to favor the pomp and ceremony that often comes with an executive order. He routinely makes a speech, assembled administration officials and potentially affected Americans thank him for taking action, and he signs the order before the cameras, holding it up for photographers to capture the moment.
“I think it fits his personality,” Rudalevige said.