Florida mayor says White House hasn’t contacted him about holding G-7 in city

The Trump administration reportedly did not confer with the mayor of Doral, Fla., before announcing that the Group of Seven (G-7) summit will be held at President Trump’s Doral golf resort near Miami next year. 

Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez told The Washington Post on Thursday that he was unaware of any calls from the federal government informing the city of the announcement. He said he found the news out as acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced the decision in front of reporters Thursday.

“I found out the same way that I guess you did,” Bermudez told the Post. He added that he was eager to start planning the event just eight months away.

{mosads}The G-7 summit hosts world leaders, diplomats and others from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.  

Mulvaney said in Thursday’s press conference that the administration looked at a dozen possible locations and “this was by far and away the best choice.”

Trump was the one who suggested the Doral property be added to the list of potential sites, Mulvaney said. He told reporters during the closing days of this year’s summit in France that the resort was the front-runner to host in 2020. 

“I think it’s just a great place to be. I think having it in Miami is fantastic. Really fantastic,” Trump said at the time. “Having it at that particular place, because of the way it’s set up, each country can have their own villa, or their own bungalow. And the bungalows, when I say, they have a lot of units in them. So I think it just works out well.”

But the decision quickly raised some eyebrows as a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which bans presidents from accepting payments from foreign countries, U.S. states or the federal government.

Mulvaney told reporters Thursday that Trump would not profit from the summit.  

“I get the criticisms. So does [Trump] … but no, there’s no issue here on him profiting from this in any way, shape or form,” Mulvaney said. “If you think it’s going to help his brand, that’s great, but I would suggest that he doesn’t need much help promoting his brand.”