‘It looks lousy,’ as president drops resort for summit
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump dropped plans to hold an international summit at his Doral resort in greater Miami after realizing “it looks lousy” to steer business to his own property, his acting chief of staff said Sunday.
Mick Mulvaney said Trump was “honestly surprised by the level of pushback” against his choice of Doral for next year’s Group of Seven gathering.
He added in an interview on Fox News Sunday that Trump “still considers himself to be in the hospitality business” and “wanted to put on the absolute best show.”
But he added: “I think he knows, people think it looks lousy.”
Trump announced a rare backtrack Saturday night after facing accusations that he was using the presidency to enrich himself by hosting the international summit at the private resort owned by his family.
“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 striking reversal raises further doubts about Mulvaney’s future in the chief of staff job. He held a news conference Thursday announcing the choice of Doral for the summit. He insisted his staff had concluded it was “far and away the best physical facility.” Mulvaney said the White House reached that determination after visiting 10 sites across the country.
Days after being the face of the selection, Mulvaney again held a national stage, but this time said: “I think it’s the right decision to change.”
At the news conference Thursday, Mulvaney acknowledged a quid pro quo was at work when Trump held up U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine’s investigation of Democrats and the 2016 elections. Mulvaney later claimed his comments had been misconstrued, but not before drawing the ire of the president and frustration from other senior aides.
Trump had been the first administration official to publicly float the selection of his property to host the summit when in August he mentioned it was on the shortlist and praised its facilities and close proximity to Miami’s international airport.
His comments, more than a month before the 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 vociferous criticism only intensified with Thursday’s announcement, drawing wide condemnation from Democrats and even some Republicans. Trump insisted he would host the summit at cost, though he refused to disclose financial details. The annual heads-of-state gathering would at minimum have provided goodwill value to his property.