President Trump will “personally” pay the tab for the weekend he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have planned at Trump’s Palm Beach resort, Mar-A-Lago, a senior administration official told Politico.
“The president is personally paying for the Mar-a-Lago portions of the trip,” the official said. Trump and Abe will travel to Florida after meetings at the White House Friday. An administration official told reporters earlier that their together weekend will involve “a fair bit of golf” and “relaxing,” according Politico.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at the press briefing Thursday that the trip had been offered to Abe as a “gift.”
“The president has offered as a gift to the Prime Minister, he will be his guest at Mar-A-Lago,” Spicer said, adding that the rest of the Japanese delegation will not be staying at the resort.
Since his inauguration, Trump has been under fire for claims that he may be violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits U.S. officeholders from accepting gifts or fees from foreign governments. Critics argue that foreign leaders are able to curry favor with the President by paying to stay in his various hotels or engage in other business ventures.
It is unclear whether the clarification that Trump will be personally footing the bill of Abe’s Mar-A-Lago stay was in response to those concerns.
