Dems Try To Force Trump To Publish Club Visitor Logs With ‘MAR-A-LAGO’ Act

President Donald Trump points from Air Force One with First Lady Melania and son Barron after arriving at the Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 17, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is spending the w... President Donald Trump points from Air Force One with First Lady Melania and son Barron after arriving at the Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 17, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago Estate in Palm Beach. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Democrats introduced an act into the House and Senate on Friday, that would require President Donald Trump to disclose lists of who visits his private club in Florida. The bill should be pretty easy to remember because of its name: the “Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act” or “MAR-A-LAGO Act.”

The act would force the Trump administration to release visitor logs from the club, which Trump has dubbed the “Winter White House,” or “any other location at which the President or the Vice President regularly conducts official business,” into a public database every 90 days. Trump has spent five weekends in Palm Beach since his inauguration, according The Sun Sentinel

The act was created after a visitor access records page on the White House website has said “this page is being updated” since Trump took office.

In the statement about the act, its sponsors—Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL)—say that they have grave concerns about who can have access to Trump when he is at Mar-a-Lago, if only they pay the $200,000 membership fee.

“The American people need to know who has access to the White House if we’re going to ‘drain the swamp’. So far, all we’ve seen from the President is murk,” said Whitehouse. “His Administration has stonewalled congressional requests for information about his advisors and appointees’ conflicts of interest.”

“Maintaining sensible transparency policies would help dispel concerns that the wealthy and the well-connected have unfair access to the Trump White House,” he continues. “If he won’t adopt that policy himself, Congress should require it.”

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: