CREW requests records on Trump’s claim that gov’t preferred Doral G-7
President Trump’s push to host the 2020 G-7 at the Trump National Doral golf course–which he continues to own and profit from–raises questions of corruption and could even violate the Constitution.
In a press conference in France, Trump suggested that the Secret Service expressed a preference for hosting the 2020 G-7 meeting at Doral, saying “When my people came back…They went to places all over the country. And they came back and they said, ‘This is where we would like to be.’ Now we had military people doing it. We had Secret Service people doing it.”
On August 27, CREW requested records from the city of Doral, the Secret Service, and State Department on the prospect of hosting the G-7 at Doral.
At the same press conference, Trump listed several features of the club, in what appeared to be an advertisement, from the size of the property, to the proximity to the airport, to the great conference rooms. In the last two years, Doral’s income fell by 69%.
The requested records will shed light on whether the Secret Service did in fact recommend the venue, and to what extent the government is involved in President Trump’s efforts to profit off of the presidency by funneling business to his struggling resort.
Following Trump’s announcement and subsequent withdrawal of the G-7 summit from Doral, the public needs to know exactly how Trump received the G-7 bid in the first place, despite his clear conflict of interest. In particular, the announcement raised serious concerns about the integrity of the selection process especially since acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had admitted that Doral was not on the initial list of venues considered to host the event and Trump had persuaded officials to include Doral.
On November 5, CREW requested additional records from the General Services Administration, Department of Defense, Secret Service, Office of Management and Budget, and State Department to investigate the selection process and whether government agencies departed from normal procurement practices to satisfy the President’s desire to promote his own business.