Trump’s will be done.
The President personally pushed for the G-7 summit next summer to be held at his Trump National Doral resort. And lo and behold, it will, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney announced on Tuesday.
“We sat around one night, we were back in the dining room going over it with our advance team and we had the list and he goes, ‘what about Doral?’ And I was like, ‘that’s not the craziest idea that makes perfect sense,'” Mulvaney told reporters at the White House. “I’m familiar with it, we’re all familiar with it, so it’s not like he was like, ‘this is what Doral is’ having to explain it. He said, ‘what about Doral?’ and we said, ‘you know what? That’s not the craziest idea I’ve ever heard’ and we went to go look at it.”
Trump himself wanted G-7 to be held at his Doral resort in Florida pic.twitter.com/3VLZF9fKme
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 17, 2019
The decision raises a host of potential emoluments issues. Mulvaney insisted Trump won’t profit from the event, even going so far as to boast that the President’s brand doesn’t need any more boosting.
“I would like you all to consider the possibility that Donald Trump’s brand is probably strong enough as it is and he doesn’t need any more help on that,” Mulvaney said. “It’s the most recognizable name in the English language and probably around the world right now. (Trump profiting) has nothing to do with it.”
Mulvaney said he was also “skeptical” of the decision at first and aware of the “political criticism we would come under for doing it at Doral,” but was swayed by the advance team’s assessment of the space.
“I get the criticisms, so does he. Face it, he’d be criticized regardless of what he chose to do. So no, there is no issue here on him profiting from this in any way, shape or form,” Mulvaney said, before seizing the opportunity to take an unsubstantiated dig at former Vice President Joe Biden.
“What’s the difference between this and what we’re talking about, the Bidens? First of all, there is no profit here,” he claimed. “Clearly there is profit with the Bidens, and second of all, if you look at the difference between the Trump family and the Biden family, Trump family made their money before they went into politics. That’s a big difference.”
Mulvaney claims that Trump's brand doesn't need more boasting: "It's the most recognizable name in the English language and probably around the world right now." pic.twitter.com/lFwjLuLRK9
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 17, 2019
Mulvaney also hyped the President’s personal resort from the White House podium, exalting the space as “far and away the best physical facility for this meeting.” Quoting an unnamed member of the advance team that went on the site search, Mulvaney said: “It’s almost like they built this facility to host this type of event.”
