Tag: Trump greed

Vice President Pence to headline anti-gay Christian conservative group’s anniversary gala at Trump’s DC hotel

AlterNet logoVice President Mike Pence is the headline act for Concerned Women for America‘s 40th anniversary celebration – and fundraising – dinner Thursday night, at the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C. Pence will deliver his remarks around 7 PM at the Christian conservative anti-gay group’s “Ruby Red and Black Tie Gala” at the Trump International’s Ballroom.

“The planned speeches suggest that President Trump and his Cabinet are not shying away from events that drive revenue to Trump’s company, even after multiple stories have brought new scrutiny to the blurring of lines between Trump’s business and presidency,” The Washington Post reports.

It’s a stunning cirle of money and influence the President has created.

View the complete September 12 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Checking In at Trump Hotels, for Kinship (and Maybe Some Sway)

New York Times logoTo ethics lawyers, the most extraordinary aspect of the daily merging of President Trump’s official duties and his commercial interests is that it has now become almost routine.

WASHINGTON — At a table in the lobby bar of the Trump International Hotel this week, the final details of a black-tie, 40th anniversary gala for the Concerned Women for America were being worked out by the conservative group’s staff.

There was the contract with the president’s hotel to be reviewed. And there was also unfinished business with the White House — logistical issues posed by two guests from the administration, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and most important, the status of the video message and letter from President Trump himself that the group wanted for the dinner.

“That is the gold standard,” said Kenda Bartlett, Concerned Women for America’s executive director. “If we can get that, the rest of this is just dressing.”

View the complete September 7 article by Eric Lipton and Annie Karni on The New York Times website here.

 

Trump says Miami will probably host next year’s G-7 summit — at his own Doral resort

Greater Miami is likely to host next year’s G-7 summit of world leaders — and President Donald Trump now says his own Doral resort is a good bet to be the home site.

Speaking to reporters from France, which is hosting the ongoing Group of 7 summit, Trump acknowledged for the first time Monday morning that he may select his flagship property for the annual gathering of the world’s most powerful people.

The White House later tweeted a video of Trump praising his Miami-area hotel during a subsequent press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, writing “President @realDonaldTrump shares the location of the next @G7 summit, hosted by the United States!”

View the complete August 26 article by David Smiley on The Miami Herald website here.

Trump invites new emoluments fight with G-7 resort pitch

The Hill logoPresident Trump stepped into another controversy of his own making Monday by suggesting the U.S. could host world leaders at his golf resort outside Miami for next year’s Group of Seven (G-7) summit.

If Trump were to make his resort the meeting venue, his critics argue it would be another clear violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits presidents from accepting payments from foreign countries, U.S. states or the federal government.

“This is a president who has converted the presidency into an instrument of enrichment from day one. There is simply no line between what is official government business and what is a private money-making enterprise — it is all one big venture,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a House Judiciary Committee member and former constitutional law professor, said Monday in a phone interview with The Hill.

View the complete August 26 article by Scott Wong on The Hill website here.

Trump sings the praises of his resort in Florida as possible G-7 host for 2020

Washington Post logoBIARRITZ, France —  President Trump said Monday that he was likely to hold next year’s Group of Seven summit at his resort in Doral, Fla., meaning he could personally profit from one of the world’s most prestigious gatherings of foreign leaders.

In a news conference, Trump said that his staff had scoured the country and determined that — of all America’s resorts and resort towns — Trump’s club was the best situated to host the international meeting.

“They went places all over the country, and they came back and said, ‘This is where we’d like to be,’ ” Trump said. “It’s not about me. It’s about getting the right location.”

View the complete August 26 article by Josh Dawsey and David A. Fahrenthold on The Washington Post website here.

Trump May Convene Meeting Of World Leaders At His Own Resort

Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida, is reportedly among the finalists to host the G-7 international summit.

Axios reported on Monday that Trump National Doral is in the running after the Trump administration “completed site surveys of possible locations, and is down to its final few choices.”

If the decision is made to host the meeting at his club, Trump stands to generate income for himself.

View the complete July 22 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

Trump wants to profit off meeting with world leaders

He wants to host the G7 at his Doral golf club.

President Donald Trump has yet more plans to try to personally profit off his presidency. According to Axios, one of the top location choices for hosting the G7 summit next year is Trump’s Doral golf resort near Miami.

If the summit were held there, it might be the single biggest windfall of Trump’s presidency for his businesses. Though he’s hosted individual foreign leaders in the past at Mar-a-Lago — and plenty have stayed at his hotel in Washington, D.C. — the G7 summit would bring leaders and their staff from the top economic powers in the world. Equipping the facility with the proper security for such a summit would surely come at great taxpayer expense.

As a frame of reference, the United States last hosted the G7 in 2012, with President Barack Obama using Camp David as the location, which is already equipped to provide such security.

View the complete July 22 article by Zack Ford on the ThinkProgress website here.

When Trump visits his clubs, government agencies and Republicans pay to be where he is

Washington Post logoWhen President Trump finished the first official rally of his reelection campaign this week, he got on Air Force One. But he didn’t go home to Washington. Instead, he flew 190 miles in the opposite direction — to visit his own Doral golf resort, outside Miami.

The resort’s profits have fallen since Trump took office. But it had a major event planned for the next day, a fundraiser for Trump’s reelection campaign.

It would be his 126th visit to one of his properties since taking office. And this visit — like more than a dozen before it — would bring paying customers, allowing Trump to play a double role.

View the complete June 20 article by David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey, Jonathan O’Connell and Michelle Ye Hee Lee on The Washington Post website here.

Trump: Being president is a ‘great loser’ because I can’t profit enough

Credit: Andy Buchanan, AFP, Getty Images

NOTE:  We remember during the 2016 campaign and during the Trump transition, how Mr. Trump spoke of how the businesses were being turned over to his sons to run and that he wouldn’t know what was happening there.  Sounds like that’s not happening, doesn’t it?  Anyone surprised?

Trump seems to think being president should work just like investing in real estate.

Trump described the office of the presidency itself like a real estate deal, calling it a “loser” because he claims he has been unable to make money from his position.

“I lost massive amounts of money doing this job,” Trump whined to the New York Times in a Thursday interview. “This is not the money. This is one of the great losers of all time. You know, fortunately, I don’t need money. This is one of the great losers of all time. But they’ll say that somebody from some country stayed at a hotel. And I’ll say, ‘Yeah.’ But I lose, I mean, the numbers are incredible.”

Trump’s comments aren’t just distasteful; they’re also false. He squeezes money out of the Oval Office and into his own pockets on a regular basis.

Three Reasons Why Trump’s Tweet About Nordstrom Is Alarming

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountability February 9, 2017:

Photo: CNN

On Wednesday President Donald Trump took to Twitter to slam department store Nordstrom for dropping Ivanka’s line of clothing. So to be clear: The President of the United States has singled out a major US retailer and characterized its decision to drop his daughter’s clothing line as unfair. Continue reading “Three Reasons Why Trump’s Tweet About Nordstrom Is Alarming”