Donald Trump had implied it, the White House confirmed it, causing a wave of indignation: the next G7 summit will take place in one of the golf clubs of the American president, in Florida. The Trump National Doral Club, in Miami, will host, from June 10 to 12, 2020, this great annual meeting that brings together the leaders of the seven most industrialized countries on the planet.
"We are absolutely convinced that this is the best place to organize it," White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Thursday, at the risk of fueling accusations - already fed - on the conflicts of interest of the White House. the former real estate mogul. The announcement sparked very strong reactions in Washington, among both elected officials and civil society.
"Our founding fathers have to turn in their grave"
Jerry Nadler, Democratic Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives said he was scandalized, seeing in this decision "a shameless example of President's corruption". "Our founding fathers have to turn in their grave," thundered Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. "It's not just a conflict of interest, it's unconstitutional." "It is hardly believable," responded the NGO Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which focuses on conflicts of interest in the American political class. "There is no longer any doubt: the US government is used as a public relations and marketing subsidiary of the Trump Organization."
Faced with the avalanche of questions elicited by this choice, Mick Mulvaney assured that it was the result of a rigorous process and that 12 different sites had been considered. "There will always be people who will not accept the idea that this is happening on a Trump property, we are aware of it, but we will go there anyway," he said at a point. hurry. How was this decision made? "We used the same criteria as those used by previous administrations (for the organization of summits)," he said, without elaborating. Is it ready, in the interests of transparency, to make public the documents that led to this choice? "Absolutely not."