Trump launches into sales pitch for having 2020 G7 at his own resort
‘Each country can have their own villa!’ Trump launches into sales pitch for having next year’s G7 at his ‘luxurious’ and ‘magnificent’ golf resort as he insists the presidency is costing him between $3 and $5 BILLION
- Donald Trump defended considering hosting next year’s G7 summit in Florida at his own Trump National Doral Miami golf resort
- During a press conference in France, the president insisted his team, including Secret Service and military aides, chose the location
- He praised his own property as ‘magnificent’ and bragged that it had enough bungalows for world leaders’ entourages, plus enough parking
- Trump’s Miami resort is reportedly suffering from a business drought but his company donates its foreign-government profits to the U.S. treasury
- The president might invite Vladimir Putin to the resort during the next G7 even if the group’s other leaders don’t vote to readmit Russia
Donald Trump turned part of a press conference into a mini-commercial for his Florida golf resort, praising it as the ideal place for him to host next year’s G7 leaders summit.
The president boasted in France that Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort has ‘a series of magnificent buildings. We call them bungalows. They each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views.’
‘We have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants. It’s like, it’s like such a natural,’ he said.
Trump bragged that the property includes ‘many hundreds of acres so that in terms of parking, in terms of all of the things that you need [it’s] among the biggest in Florida, and the best.’
Asked point-blank if he was trying to monetize the presidency, he shot back: ‘No, not at all.’
The 643-room resort saw a 69 per cent slide in revenues during 2017, according to The Washington Post, one of the newspapers Trump most loves to hate.
President Donald Trump lapsed into a sales pitch for one of his golf resorts on Monday in the middle of a press conference ending the annual G7 leaders summit; he will host the event in 2020 and may use the Trump National Doral golf resort as the venue
Welcome to Trump land: Donald Trump said that his Doral course was a good choice for the G7
Clubhouse: This is the clubhouse which would be the most likely place for Trump to hold the G7 if he goes ahead with using Doral as a venue
The president’s sudden shift into a sale pitch interrupted a press conference that was mostly about foreign affairs
The paper attributed its conclusions to documents Trump’s real estate business filed with Miami-Dade County officials in a bid to lower the Doral property’s tax bill.
The Trump Organization countered that its 2018 was stronger, and blamed hurricanes and public fears of the Zika virus for an underperforming year.
The president said officials would soon release information to the public about his team’s search for a G7 venue, which involved a dozen possible locations. He said representatives from the U.S. military and Secret Service were part of the delegation.
‘They went to places all over the country,’ he told reporters, ‘and they came back and they said, “This is where we would like to be”.’
Hosting the G7 at Doral would provide advantages ‘because of the way it is set up,’ he added. ‘Each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow.’
‘The bungalows … they have a lot of units in them so I think it just works out well,’ he said.
Trump’s sales pitch included Doral’s proximity to Miami International Airport, and a claim that some rival resorts ‘were two hours from an airport, some were four hours from – I mean, they were so far away!’
The president also contended that his own financial interest in the Doral property is a non-issue, claiming that the presidency will end up costing him between $3 billion and $5 billion in lost earnings and missed business opportunities.
‘I used to get a lot of money to make speeches. Now I give speeches all the time. You know what I get? Zippo. And that’s good,’ he said.
‘In my opinion I’m not going to make any money,’ Trump said of a potential G7 summit at his Florida resort. ‘I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money.’
The Trump Organization writes a check to the U.S. Treasury each year representing the amount of profit its internal audits determine that the company earns from foreign government business.
Eric Trump, the company’s executive vice president, has told DailyMail.com that he actively seeks to avoid doing business with other countries officials because it typically displaces other customers whose business contribute to profits.
President Trump earlier on Monday had told reporters traveling with him that the netx G7 summit will ‘probably be in Miami, right next to the international airport.’
He said it would take ‘hours and hours of driving to get to certain locations,’ so he would lean toward the state he considers a second home.
Asked if he’s planning to host visiting leaders at Doral, he said, ‘We’ll see.’
But he kept dropping hints: ‘This is something where you’ll be there, in literally a matter of minutes after they land. I think they’d appreciate that.’
Donald Trump says he’s likely to host the 2020 G7 summit in Florida , at or near his Doral golf club, for visiting leaders’ ease. He made the comments from France on the final day of the current gathering
Asked directly if he’s planning to host visiting leaders at Trump National Doral Miami, he said, ‘We’ll see’
Presidential visit: The World Golf Championships were held at Doral in March 2016, and Trump went to watch
Trump also promised on Monday he would have no ‘surprise’ guests at the G7 when he hosts the summit, reacting to the Iranian foreign minister’s unscheduled visit to Biarritz over the weekend. He suggested he would openly invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the gathering he was suspended from in 2014.
‘I think that Russia, we had a talk about Russia, my inclination is to say yes. Some people disagree with me,’ he acknowledged. ‘I think it’s advantageous.’
Trump claimed Sunday that a ‘number of people would like to see Russia back’ in the Group of Seven. He said it is ‘certainly possible’ Putin would be invited.
The president claimed a ‘lively discussion’ had taken place and ‘some’ leaders had said they would welcome Russia back in the group.
In a face-to-face meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said: ‘We have a number of people who would like to see Russia back.
‘I think it would be advantageous to many things in the world. I think it would be a positive. Other people agree with me, and it’s something that we’re discussing.’
Trump added, ‘I don’t know if we’ll make a decision one way or the other, but we did have a discussion about Russia last night, as to whether or not we want to invite them back.’
‘Other people agree with me, and some people don’t necessarily agree,’ he said. ‘Maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll just leave it the way it is.’
GOOD ONE, DONALD: Trump said Sunday that ‘some’ leaders favor adding Putin. He refused to tell reporters which ones were pulling for Moscow privately
U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson hold a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit in Biarritz, France. U.S. Ambassador to France Jamie McCourt sits next to POTUS on his right, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sits to his left
Donald Trump was disappointed with his coverage the first day of the summit. He complained about alleged ‘fake news’ in a series of tweets on Sunday morning
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