Trump reverses course and says his Florida resort won't be used for G7 summit
(CNN)
President Donald Trump on Saturday night abruptly reversed course and announced next year's G7 economic summit of world powers would not be held at Trump National in Doral, Florida,in a rare departureafter facing bipartisan backlash.
The President tweeted the major change just over 48 hours after the initial announcement: "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."
The President called the rising criticism his administration was facing "Irrational Hostility," and wrote, "I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders."
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White House had been defending its decision to use Trump's own property as the site for the G7 in the face of mounting outrage and disapproval.White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham toldCNN that the Doral site would be "significantly cheaper" than other options.
The administration had argued the event would be run "at cost," or without profit, by the Trump National property because of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which largely prohibits the President from accepting gifts and money from foreign governments.
But it is not clear that simply avoiding a profit would keep the administration from running afoul of the emoluments clause. The administration also had not clarified the details of how it would determine what "at cost" would be.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN on Friday that holding the G7 at Trump's property was "completely out of the question."
The move to host the summit at Trump's property had added to deep fractures in the President's relationships with some allies in Congress already upset with his decision to pull troops out of Syria.
More:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/19/politics/trump-property-no-longer-considered-for-g7-summit/index.html