House Judiciary Committee to Investigate Trump Doral G7 Plan

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Chair Steve Cohen (D-TN) released the following statement in response to President Trump's proposal to hold the 2020 G-7 Summit at Trump National Doral 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.  This week’s revelation about efforts to select the Trump National Doral Miami as the site of the 46th G7 summit is only the latest in a troubling pattern of corruption and self-dealing by the President. 

"Hosting the G7 Summit at Doral implicates both the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, because it would entail both foreign and U.S. government spending to benefit the President, the latter potentially including both federal and state expenditures.  More importantly, the Doral decision reflects perhaps the first publicly known instance in which foreign governments would be required to pay President Trump’s private businesses in order to conduct business with the United States.

"The Constitution demands that President Trump’s private interests and official conduct remain separate, and this latest announcement demands scrutiny by Congress.  The House Judiciary Committee is examining allegations of obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by the President as part of its impeachment investigation.  Potential violations of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution are of significant interest and grave concern to the Committee as it considers whether to recommend articles of impeachment.  The Committee will broaden its ongoing investigation to include these latest revelations and will take further investigative steps, including scheduling hearings and requesting additional documents from the White House."

Background:

On June 20, 2019,  The Washington Post first reported that the President had proposed that the Trump National Doral Miami host the 2020 G-7 summit.  On Monday, August 26, 2019, it was reported that the President discussed Doral in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  At a later press conference, the President further promoted Doral as the future G7 summit location, stating:

• "Doral happens to be ... only five minutes from the airport, the airport’s right next door. … And by the way, my people looked at 12 sites, all good, but some were two hours from the airport, some four hours."
• "With Doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows, they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views. we have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants, it's like such a natural. … Each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow, and they have a lot of units in them, so I think it just works out well." 

Earlier reporting also suggests the President’s official meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was cancelled over a venue dispute.  Negotiations reportedly stalled after the President requested the meeting be held at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland—a venue opposed by Irish authorities: "The Irish government fe[lt] that protocol dictates that any event they host for President Trump should be at a venue of their choosing and certainly not at an hotel owned by Trump."  The meeting was cancelled despite the involvement of President’s Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, who was "intimately involved in the discussions and [had] been insistent that Varadkar come to Doonbeg."