LIKE SO many initiatives in the Trump presidency, the Trump Doral Group of Seven summit at first sounded like a joke. As the last G-7 meeting wrapped in France in August, Mr. Trump used the platform to suggest he might host the 2020 meeting, which is due to be held in the United States, at his struggling Trump National Doral golf resort near Miami. With cameras from around the world rolling, the president boasted that his property is close to the airport, has ample parking and features a layout that would suit a big international conference.
Perhaps all he wanted to do was plug Doral and leave it at that? Nope. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney announced at a Thursday news conference that the G-7 actually will be held at Doral, and he confirmed that the site was chosen at the president’s suggestion. This is not a jest: It is blatant and corrupt self-dealing by the president.
“We thought, of the 12 places that we looked at — and you’d recognize the names of them if we told what they were — that this was by far and away the best choice,” Mr. Mulvaney explained, without, in fact, revealing which other properties were considered. Each country can take its own building, he gushed.
This is not the first time Mr. Trump has recommended that the administration use one of his properties for official purposes — and that the property turned out to be ideal, according to Trump administration spin. Last month, Vice President Pence stayed at the president’s Doonbeg resort when he visited Ireland, which required Mr. Pence to fly across the country for meetings in Dublin. The excuse then was that a scrambled itinerary meant the vice president required last-minute accommodations, and, according to Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, Mr. Trump suggested Doonbeg. Miraculously — or is it inevitably? — the administration concluded that the president’s property fit the bill.
The Trump crew’s typical response to questions about self-dealing is to claim that the president will not profit from foreigners staying at this hotel or that resort. “They’re doing this at cost,” Mr. Mulvaney insisted. But selling out Doral at cost for a while might mark a welcome departure for the Trump Organization: The Post’s David Fahrenthold points out that between 2016 and 2017, revenue at Doral fell 13.8 percent and net operating income declined 62 percent. Just the publicity that Doral will get, not to mention the prestige the business will claim long after hosting a major international conference, is valuable.
Profit or its absence is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution’s emolument clause. Instead, it simply says the president may not, without the consent of Congress, accept compensation “of any kind whatever” from any “foreign state.” If a Doral summit does not violate this stricture, then nothing does. Meantime, the notion that the United States stands for clean government in the public interest — and its standing to combat graft in other countries — is shredded.
At the start of his term, Mr. Trump promised to insulate himself from the business operations from which he would continue to profit. Now he is doing just the opposite: using his office to drive millions of dollars in revenue to a faltering property that is a critical component of his company’s portfolio. Will Congress really tolerate such crude corruption? It shouldn’t.
A companion bill is being introduced in the Senate by Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.).
“Mr. Trump is unashamed of his corruption,” Frankel said in a statement. “He is abusing the office of the Presidency and violating law by directing millions of dollars of American and foreign money to his family enterprises by holding an important meeting of world leaders at his Doral resort.”
“His contempt for the Constitution and American people seems boundless in profiting from his office through payments from foreign governments," Blumenthal added. "Our Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves. Congress must act to stop this plain craven abuse of power and corruption."
The legislation also would require Trump to provide Congress with any documents related to his decision to host the event at his property. The measure is unlikely to be taken up in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Mulvaney said the Doral property was one of 12 that was under consideration and that it was ultimately chosen in part because of its proximity to airports, landing zones and hospitals. The acting chief of staff dismissed criticism that the property’s selection violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits presidents from accepting payments from foreign countries, U.S. states or the federal government.
"I get the criticisms. So does [Trump]… but no, there’s no issue here on him profiting from this in any way, shape or form," Mulvaney said. "If you think it's going to help his brand, that's great, but I would suggest that he doesn't need much help promoting his brand."