G-7 summit ends with expressions of a renewed sense of optimism about trade war between US and China
President Trump says serious negotiations will resume soon as U.S. and China dial down rhetoric on trade differences; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports from Biarritz, France.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., on Wednesday said he'd open an investigation into President Trump’s plan to hold next year’s G-7 summit at his golf resort outside Miami.
“The president’s personal financial interests are clearly shaping decisions about official U.S. government activities, and this is precisely the type of risk that the Constitution’s emoluments clauses were intended to prevent,” Nadler said in a statement.
“This week’s revelation about efforts to select the Trump National Doral Miami as the site of the 46th G-7 summit is only the latest in a troubling pattern of corruption and self-dealing by the president.”
WHITE HOUSE: TRUMP'S 'SECOND THOUGHTS' ON CHINA TRADE WAR 'GREATLY MISINTERPRETED'
Trump strongly suggested on Monday that next year’s meeting would be held at the Trump National Doral Golf Club, as he hyped the property’s nearness to Miami’s airport and the touted the facilities and amenities available for the staff of world leaders and the media.
“With Doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows,” Trump said during a news conference in France. “We have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants, it’s, like, such a natural.”
He added, “Each country can have their own villa.”
Trump had apparently been pushing for months to have his Doral resort host the 2020 G-7, but his advisers have cautioned against it amid concerns about the ethics of the president personally profiting off an official government event.
“My people looked at 12 sites,” Trump said. “They went to places all over the country and came back and said, ‘This is the place.’”
Since assuming office, the president has faced repeated pushback from multiple aides regarding his official visits to properties he’s owned in New Jersey and Florida. They cited the appearance that Trump could be using taxpayer dollars to turn a profit at his own resorts.
Trump, who has not divested his properties, has spent many weekends at his resorts in Florida and New Jersey and regularly has dined at his organization’s restaurant in Washington, D.C.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A Washington Post analysis found that the president’s trips to his properties have brought his businesses at least $1.6 million in revenue since he took office – mostly from federal officials and GOP campaigns following Trump.
While the Constitution has prohibited presidents from taking “emoluments,” or payments, from foreign states, Trump said that clause referred to a ban on outright bribes, not business transactions, and that he would continue to do business with world governments at his hotels.
