The White House is scrambling to defend Vice President Mike Pence‘s decision to stay at President Donald Trump‘s hotel in Ireland while meeting with that country’s leaders – 180 miles away. Pence will be using Air Force Two as a shuttle between the Trump International Golf Resort in Doonbeg and Dublin. American taxpayers will be footing the bill every step of the way for the VP, countless Secret Service agents, and presumably White House aides – with a large portion of the likely multi-million dollar trip landing in the president’s pockets.
One Georgetown professor posted a map showing where Pence will be staying and just how far that is from where his meeting will be:
Outrage online has been so palpable Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short was forced to address the scandal.
After the president lauded the resort and stayed there earlier this year revenue increased. Short was asked by reporters if Trump directed his Vice President to stay at the Trump-owned property which is has been facing financial difficulties.
“I don’t think it was a request, like a command,” Short told reporters, as NBC News reported. “I think that it was a suggestion.”
“It’s like when we went through the trip, it’s like, well, he’s going to Doonbeg because that’s where the Pence family is from,” Short said before describing the president’s suggestion. “It’s like, ‘Well, you should stay at my place.'”
“It wasn’t like a, ‘You must,'” Short continued, fielding 17 questions about the Doonbeg decision from reporters. “It wasn’t like, ‘You have to.’ It’s a facility that could accommodate the team. Keep in mind, the Secret Service has protected that facility for him, too, so they sort of know the realities, they know the logistics around that facility.”
Pence’s wife, sister, and mother are also joining him, but The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reports Short says the Vice President is “personally paying all family expenses.”
President Trump has visited Trump properties almost 300 times since being sworn in in January 2017, with taxpayers footing the bill.
In August Trump repeatedly pushed for the annual G7 meeting to be held at his Miami golf resort next year. Hosting such an event would likely pour millions into the president’s pockets.
This CNN Legal Analyst offered his take:
Here’s what some others are saying about Pence staying at Trump Doonbeg:
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