President Donald Trump will have next year's G7 meeting at his own golf course in Doral, Florida, chief of staff Mick Mulvaney announced on Thursday.
In announcing that the G7 meeting will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami, Mulvaney insisted that the president will not personally profit from holding the meeting there and claimed that it was simply the "best" place to hold the summit.
Mulvaney deflected reporters' questions about using the G7 summit to boost the golf resort's brand name by saying that the Trump brand name is already widely known throughout the world and doesn't need a G7 meeting to make it stronger.
Mulvaney also insisted that holding the G7 at the president's own golf club would not detract from Trump's argument that former Vice President Joe Biden improperly profited from his office.
Trump’s Doral golf club has been hammered financially ever since the president first launched his controversial political career in 2015. A Washington Post report from earlier this year found that the club’s net operating income fell by a whopping 69 percent between 2015 and 2017, and one tax consultant working on behalf of the Trump Organization has admitted that its income is down because of Trump’s negative reputation.
Because of this, Trump’s decision to use his own property to host the G7 has drawn accusations that he is shamelessly using his office to make money for himself, although the president regularly claims, without providing any evidence, that being president is costing him money.
