President Donald Trump issued the following statement on the Doral G-7 Reversal and it was posted in the White House Press List News Email Feed by Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade. Johnson called the email “Pool Report #17 — Fuller quote on Doral defense.” Zennie62Media is a member of the White House Press List.
Washington, D.C. – POTUS: Doral (Doral G-7 Reversal) was a very simple situation. I own a property in Florida. I was going to do it at no cost or give it for free if a got ruling — because there’s a question about whether or not you’re allowed to give it because it’s like a contribution to a country. I’d have to get a ruling, but I would have given it for nothing. It’s a lot of money.
I would have given it away like I give my salary. I give away from salary. It’s, I guess, was $450,000. I give it away. No one ever said, “You give away your salary.” Now it comes up because of this. I give away my presidential salary. They say that no other president has done that, and I’m surprised, to be honest with you.
They actually say that George Washington may have been the only other president that did, but see whether or not Obama gave up his salary. See whether all of the other of your favorites give up their salary. The answer is no.
They say it’s the only one. They said George Washington did, but they say no other. So I give up a lot of money, $450,000 close to, and I give that up.
So I have a place that’s in the best location. I’m very good at real estate. Very good. Much better than you’ll ever understand. When you see my financials, which I’ll give at the right time, you’ll say, “Man, he does much better than we even thought.” This guys knows right here, Mnuchin, because he was in the private sector. He knows — he knows very much what I have. He would tell you. Someday, maybe, he’ll tell you. But I’m very good at real estate.
This Miami, this facility, everybody would have had their own building, everyone in the G-7 would have had their own building. It is so good. Florida loved it. They love economic development. It’s not — it’s because it’s a beautiful place. It’s new. It’s been totally rebuilt. It’s new. Everything’s been rebuilt. Everything’s new. It’s got massive meeting rooms, unlimited for security because it’s on, you know, hundreds of acres. The best locations, right next to their airport, Miami International, one of the biggest airports in the world. Some people say it’s the biggest. One of the biggest international airports in the world. It’s only minutes away. They would have been great.
But the Democrats went crazy, even though I would have done it free, save the country a lot of money. Then they say, “Oh, but you’ll get promotion.” You don’t think I get enough promotion? I get more promotion than any human being that’s ever lived, I think. I think I get — I think I can say that’s fairly researched. I think I get more promotion than any human being that’s ever lived. Some good, some bad. People that like me, give me only good. People that don’t like me, give me only bad, but that’s the way life is. I don’t need promotion. I don’t need promotion.
OK, but I was willing to do this for free. And it would have — it would have been the greatest G-7 ever. And I would have said to my family — because I don’t run the business — because they run my business now. Now, I don’t run my business. I actually put all the stuff in trust. They run — and I didn’t have to do that. But under no obligation, did I —
You know, George Washington. He ran his business simultaneously while he was president. Many other presidents — there weren’t too many other really rich president — but there was a few. They ran their business. Hey, Obama made a deal for a book. Is that running a business? I’m sure he didn’t even discuss it while he was president. Yeah. He has a deal with Netflix. When did they start talking about that. That’s only, you know, a couple of examples.
But other presidents, if you look, other presidents were wealthy, not huge wealth. George Washington was actually considered a very, very rich man at the time. But they ran their businesses. George Washington, they say, had two desks. He had a presidential desk and a business desk. I don’t think you people with this phony Emoluments Clause —
And by the way, I would say that it’s cost me anywhere from $2 to $5 billion to be president, and that’s OK. Between what I lose and what I could have made, I would have made a fortune, I would have just ran my business. I was doing it very well. I have a great business and the best properties.
But between what I was — and you know, some properties to raise an example, Doral was setting records when I bought it because I owned it for a period of time. Setting records. Because there was nothing like it. It was making a fortune. And then what happened? I announced I’m going to run for office. And all a sudden — I say we have to build a wall, we got to have borders, we got to have this, we got to have that. All of a sudden, people — some people — didn’t like it. They thought the rhetoric was too tough, and it went from doing great to doing fine. It does very nicely now. It’s actually coming back, I understand, very strongly, but Doral was setting records, and I knew this would happen.
Most of the stuff that I had — because now instead of setting 100 percent of the market that loves you, and they love your brand, and it’s luxury and it’s great, now you have 50 percent of the market. That’s called politics. I fully understood that.
So, it’s cost me between $2 billion and $5 billion, and if I had to do it again, I would do it in an instant, because who cares? If you can afford it, what difference does it make? If I had this to do it again, because I’m making a big difference for the country. The country is stronger now than it’s been in many years, maybe ever.
Our military is rebuilt, our economy is hitting records. As I said, best unemployment numbers, best employment numbers. We’re strong. We’re bringing our soldiers back home from the endless wars. We’re doing great.
So whether I lost $2 billion, $5 billion, more or less, it doesn’t make any difference to me. I don’t care. If you’re rich, it doesn’t matter. I’m doing this for the country. I’m doing it for the people that show up.
I haven’t had an empty seat at a rally. I always say, “Where is the rally?” It’s in a certain place. “OK, just get the biggest arena.” I go to these massive basketball arenas, like in Dallas, where the Mavericks play. In Philadelphia, I set a record. I set a record for every place I’ve been because we just need a little, small stage. We don’t need basketball courts, ice hockey courts, and I take less than musicians because they have bands. I don’t have bands. I could a set a world record for someone without a guitar, OK? I don’t have bands.
So that’s the story. And you know, those people are the poll — And I have great polls. I have my best polls now. I think it’s because people think it’s terrible what they do. Pelosi, Shifty Schiff, Schumer. These people are trying to destroy the country. It’s a very bad thing what they’re doing. The president of the United States should be able to run the country and not have to focus on this kind of crap…