President Trump intends to host next year’s Group of 7 conference at his Doral International Resort in Miami in June, the White House confirmed Thursday, a controversial decision certain to raise conflict-of-interest questions given the financial benefit to Trump’s business. Noah Bookbinder, executive director of watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Trump was using the U.S. government as a marketing arm of the Trump Organization. “Holding an international summit of world leaders at the president’s resort is not just a conflict of interest, it is unconstitutional,” he said. Other Trump properties have seen a sharp decline in business as groups have canceled events to avoid being affected by political controversies. In one, a group of restaurants and other businesses in Washington, D.C., claim they’ve been injured by the Trump hotel’s ability to attract foreign business.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 17, 2019 16:41 UTC