Trump Cancels Doral Resort For Site Of G-7 Summit, Blames Dems And Media For Forcing Him To Do So
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday evening that his Trump Doral Miami resort would no longer be the site of the 2020 G-7 Summit, which the United States is slated to host next year.
Many criticisms came about, from lawmakers and ethics experts, over the president using his own resort for the gathering of foreign leaders, including allegations that the act could amount to Emoluments Clause violations found within the Constitution.
Trump made the announcement over the course of three separate tweets on Twitter.
“I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders. It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, has tremendous ballrooms & meeting rooms, and each delegation would have its own 50 to 70 unit building,” Trump said.
Trump also defended his decision to choose Doral initially, stating that he “would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA.”
“But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!” Trump alleged, though the criticisms over using his resort came from a bipartisan group of lawmakers as well, the Washington Post reported.
…..its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives. I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019
….Therefore, 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. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019
Fact-checkers found that Trump’s comments, suggesting he wouldn’t profit from using the resort, were disingenuous. Even if Trump hosted the event free of cost — an idea many have been skeptical of him actually following through on — the publicized use of Doral by foreign leaders, in television and in print, would amount to free advertising for the property, resulting in Doral likely racking in bigger profits after the event took place, PolitiFact noted.
Some on social media also worried about the conditions of the resort, and whether it would be a hospitable choice for world leaders. After the initial announcement by Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was made about Doral being the site of the next G-7 Summit, the hashtag #BedBugSummit started trending on Twitter, in reference to a lawsuit that Trump’s legal representation settled out of court from a New Jersey businessman, who alleged that he received several bed bug bites after staying at Doral in 2016.
The matter was resolved between the two parties in 2017, the Miami Herald reported, with the details of the agreement left unclear.
In his final tweet regarding the matter on Saturday, Trump said, “We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.” Camp David was the site of the G-8 Summit in 2012, where former President Barack Obama hosted foreign leaders.