Donald Trump wants to host 2020 G7 summit at his Miami golf resort ... and may invite Russia’s Vladimir Putin
- US president said the Florida resort was a perfect choice, both due to its size and the fact it was just a five-minute drive from Miami airport
- Hosting G7 there means he could personally profit from one of the world’s most prestigious gatherings of foreign leaders
Donald Trump has built a presidential brand out of supposed budget hawkery on behalf of the American taxpayer, often complaining that Americans pay too much to fund Nato, to conduct military exercises in South Korea or to trade with China.
But the US president has yet to emit a peep about the hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost taxpayers next year to host a summit of world leaders from G7 countries – and there might be a very good reason.
Trump has been campaigning to host the 2020 G7 at one of his resorts, the struggling Trump National Doral Miami in Florida, a move that would divert a torrent of taxpayer cash into his own coffers.
Trump publicly confirmed his idea to put forward his own property as a summit site in a joint appearance on Monday at the G7 in Biarritz, France, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
While his administration was still considering other potential sites, Trump said, Doral, an 800-acre golf resort close to the Miami airport, was the clear front runner.
“They love the location of the hotel,” Trump said.
“We haven’t found anything that’s even close to competing with it. It’s one of the biggest airports, takes planes from everywhere. Sometimes you have hours and hours of driving to get to certain locations.
“You’ll only have a five-minute drive, which is good,” Trump told Merkel.
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He went on to give a long commercial of sorts for the property, hailing its acres, separate buildings for different delegations and “great” conference rooms.
It boasts four golf courses and 643 rooms, plus more than 100,000 square feet of event space - including the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom.
The president said a final decision had not been made.
Trump has attended three G7 summits, in Italy, Canada and France.
On each occasion, the meeting has been held far from any airport that can take his Air Force One plane, meaning he has had to be shuttled in by helicopter or by a smaller plane.
“So many places are so far away, the drive is so long, they need helicopters. This is somewhere you can be at within minutes of landing,” he said.
Although he did not like the fact he had to swap planes in France, Trump praised the set-up in Biarritz, at a conference centre overlooking the Atlantic.
Aides say Trump has sought for months to hold the summit in Miami, but many of his advisers have warned against the idea, concerned about the ethics of the president profiting from an official government event.
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Trump has come in for criticism – though not yet official censure or substantive congressional action – for perceived ethical lapses connected with his failure, upon becoming president, to divest from the Trump Organisation, which is supposedly being run by his sons without him.
Trump’s business ties, which he has not fully disclosed to voters, have also raised concerns that he could have violated a constitutional ban on government officials taking emoluments – profits derived from the holding of public office – from foreign governments or actors.
His continued ownership of the Trump Organisation means, for example, that an untold share the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by foreign governments and tens of millions of dollars spent by domestic interest groups at the Trump International hotel in Washington could have found their way to Trump himself.
The Trump Organisation claims to reimburse the US Treasury where appropriate.
Trump-branded properties have had mixed success since Trump moved into the White House.
Doral’s net operating income has fallen by 69 per cent in the last two years, The Washington Post reported.
A flood of foreign leaders, security spending and staff could stop that skid.
The US last hosted the G7 summit (then the G8 with the inclusion of Russia, which was expelled in 2014 and which Trump now wants to readmit) in 2012 at Camp David, Maryland, a government site. In 2004, the US hosted at Sea Island, Georgia.
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Trump said it was “certainly possible” that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be invited next year.
“I’d certainly invite him,” Trump said at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron as the G7 summit in Biarritz wound down.
“Whether he could come or not, psychologically, I think that’s a tough thing to do,” Trump added. “He’s a proud person.”
“There won’t be any surprises,” he said
The Guardian, Reuters, The Washington Post, Agence France-Presse
