The White House has announced the next G7 summit will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida. The announcement was widely criticized. Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, said, “It’s hard to imagine a more blatant violation of the Constitution’s anti-corruption provision than the president steering foreign governments to stay at his luxury resort property.” On Thursday, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney dismissed the criticism, claiming the the White House had determined the Trump-owned resort was the best possible site in the entire country to host the summit.
Mick Mulvaney: “We know the environment we live. You all know the environment that we live in. And he knows exactly that he’s going to get these questions and exactly get that reaction from a lot of people. And he’s simply saying, 'OK, that's fine. I’m willing to take that,’ the same way he takes it when he goes to Trump Mar-a-Lago, the same place when he goes to play Trump Bedminster. He got over that a long time ago. He — we absolutely believe this is the best place to have it. We’re going to have it there. And there’s going to be folks who will never get over the fact that it’s a Trump property. We get that. But we’re still going to go there.”
Mulvaney also revealed one of the world’s most pressing issues — the climate crisis — will not be on the agenda at the G7.
Reporter: “As you’re looking at the content of what you want to do next year” —
Mick Mulvaney: “Yeah.”
Reporter: — “it’s probably going to be hot in Florida in June. Will climate change be one of the issues that you discuss?”
Mick Mulvaney: “Climate change will not be on the agenda.”