Trump forced to drop offer to host next G7 summit at his golf club

Donald Trump has backed down on a plan to host next year's G7 summit at one of his own golf clubs in Florida.

The US president blamed "irrational hostility" from "crazed Democrats" for the reversal of the decision to hold the event at Trump National Doral Miami.

Mick Mulvaney, his chief of staff, said the president had been "honestly surprised at the level of pushback" to the idea.

Mr Mulvaney added: "At the end of the day, he [Mr Trump] still considers himself to be in the hospitality business, and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world.

"And he wanted to put on the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could, and he was very confident of doing that at Doral."

Mr Trump said the search for another site to host world leaders would begin immediately with Camp David, the government-owned presidential retreat in Maryland, another possibility.

The president had suggested Doral was the best venue in the US for the summit, but opponents accused him of "self-dealing" by effectively awarding a major contract to himself. Mr Trump countered that he had agreed to host the event "at cost".

But critics argued it would have filled Doral in



June, which is low season, so would have brought in extra revenue.

In May, 'The Washington Post' reported that Doral's net operating income had fallen 69pc since 2015.

Doral was announced as the G7 venue by Mr Mulvaney on Thursday. He said it was the president who first recommended that the 365-hectare resort be considered.

A White House team then conducted scouting missions to Doral and nine other potential venues, including ones in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan and Utah.

Mr Mulvaney said the advance team concluded that Doral was the "perfect physical location to do this".

Several days of criticism from Democrats, and some Republicans, followed.

Revealing his rare climbdown, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: "I thought I was doing something very good for our country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G7 leaders.

"It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to Miami International Airport, has tremendous ballrooms and meeting rooms, and each delegation would have its own 50 to 70 unit building."

Joe Biden, the former vice-president and a leading contender for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2020, said: "Hosting the G7 at Trump's hotel? A president should never be able to use the office for personal gain."