The Trump White House is insisting that the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort is the ideal place to host the 2020 G-7 summit, but White House officials aren’t explaining why that is or what made it a better choice than the competition. They’re just denying the obviously true answer that it will personally profit Donald Trump. The ranking Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committees are trying to change that by getting some answers.
Sens. Sherrod Brown, Gary Peters, and Ron Wyden have sent a letter loaded with questions to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “This is another outrageous example of the President using his office to funnel money from American taxpayers and foreign sources into his own pockets,” the senators write, and they want answers. Their questions include how much it will cost the federal, state, local, and foreign governments involved, what other properties were supposedly considered to host the G-7, and what agencies were involved in assessing the candidates. Additionally, the senators request “all communications related to the selection of Trump National Doral Miami to host the 2020 G-7 Summit, on both governmental and non-governmental devices.”
The White House is certain to stonewall as much as it can, which means there’s likely another fight coming over this—and an interesting question will be when or how the House incorporates this latest outrageous, impeachable act into its impeachment inquiry. These questions would definitely have a place in that process, as mind-blowing as it is that a president in the middle of an impeachment inquiry for trying to pressure another country’s government into digging for dirt on his political rivals would turn around and assign his own property a massive government contract.