President Trump on Tuesday announced that next year’s Group of Seven (G-7) summit will take place at Camp David, his second choice after initially planning to host the gathering of world leaders at one of his properties.
The president made the announcement during a NATO meeting in London with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling the Maryland retreat a “place that people like.”
“We’re going to do it at Camp David, and we’ll be doing some very special things at Camp David,” Trump said. “It’s nearby, it’s close. We’re going to give very good access to the press.”
The summit is slated for June 10-12 and will attract leaders from the other G-7 nations: Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. As host, Trump is also able to invite other world leaders.
The decision to host the G-7 at Camp David comes roughly six weeks after the White House first announced and quickly reversed plans to hold the summit at Trump National Doral near Miami.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said at an October press briefing that Trump National Doral would play host. He denied that the decision amounted to a conflict of interest or that the president would profit from playing host to thousands of international officials, journalists and staff, instead declaring the property the best venue for the event.
But Trump said days later that Doral would no longer host the summit, citing outcry from Democrats who complained that it was brazen corruption and a violation of the Emoluments Clause that bars elected U.S. officials from accepting gifts from foreign leaders.
Trump had not announced a replacement site until Tuesday, but had previously named Camp David as a potential alternative.
The United States last hosted the then-Group of Eight summit in 2012 at Camp David, which has long been a retreat for presidents and their families and the site of diplomatic meetings.
In announcing the original choice of Trump Doral, Mulvaney suggested Camp David was undesirable.
“In fact, I understand the folks who participated in it hated it and thought it was a miserable place to have the G-7,” he said. “It was way too small. It was way too remote. My understanding is this media didn’t like it because you had to drive an hour on a bus to get there either way.”