Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger was critical of the Trump administration’s announcement that they would be hosting the 2020 G-7 summit at one of the president’s properties in Florida.
The summit will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday. He defended the choice, arguing that Trump will be “doing this at a cost” and said that “it will be dramatically cheaper for us.”
Kinzinger, who has attacked the president recently, appeared on CNN Friday morning and was asked about the pick for the G-7 summit location.
“I’m not happy with it. Now when you — I actually read the emoluments clause again yesterday,” the former Air Force officer stated. “And it talks about titles and nobility and all this kind of stuff. I don’t know if it’s a direct violation, but I don’t understand why at this moment they had to do that. I mean do it in D.C., do it in Miami at a different resort. Whatever it is.”
As Kinzinger referenced, some have suggested that Trump decision is a violation of the emoluments clause, which precludes presidents from accepting gifts from foreign states.
“What about the principle?” Jim Sciutto asked. “If you had a congressional event in your district, right, and let’s say you owned a bar there and sent the contract to your bar where you profit off of it — you wouldn’t do that.”
“There may be rules against it for me, even,” Kinzinger responded. “But the administration has different rules on some of those things and even Congress does. We make our own rules. I wouldn’t do it. The controversy about, for instance, the air cruise staying in Scotland. I actually defend the president on that. Because I know [Department of Defense] travel regulations and there are decisions that are made not by a president but by aircrews that want to stay at nice places within the DOD guidelines. This is something that feels a little different.”
Kinzinger has not been shy expressing his displeasure over the president’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria.
