House Democrats to probe Trump’s bid to host G-7 at own club

House Democrats said Wednesday they will probe President Trump’s interest in holding next year’s Group of Seven summit at his golf club in Miami, saying it would make a mockery of the constitutional firewall between presidents’ official conduct and their private interests.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he will broaden his impeachment investigation to include the plan, which Mr. Trump outlined during the most recent G-7 meeting in France.

The president said the Trump National Doral is a “natural” fit for the summit because it has private suites and is near the Miami airport.

Yet Democrats said the idea fuels their fear that Mr. Trump is violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which is designed to keep foreign interests from using gifts to influence the president’s behavior.

“The Doral decision reflects perhaps the first publicly known instance in which foreign governments would be required to pay President Trump’s private businesses in order to conduct business with the United States,” said Mr. Nadler, New York Democrat, and Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat. “The Constitution demands that President Trump’s private interests and official conduct remain separate, and this latest announcement demands scrutiny by Congress.”

The lawmakers said they will schedule hearings and demand documents related to the plan.

Mr. Trump’s company says it donates profits from foreign governments back to the Treasury, thought critics say it’s not clear how that’s calculated.

The president chafed at criticism of his Doral plan Monday, saying he’s losing money while serving as president because he has to forgo big deals.

He spoke at length about the Doral’s qualities Monday in Biarritz, arguing White House scouts couldn’t find a better site for the G-7.

“It’s like, such a natural,” Mr. Trump said. “Each country can have their own bungalow.”

Mr. Trump’s musings resurrected news reports about the Trump Organization’s decision, in 2017, to settle a lawsuit from a Doral guest who said he was bitten by bedbugs.

In a number of tweets, Mr. Trump called it a “made up Radical Left Story.”

He said his critics were so upset about Doral’s ideal location that they “spread that false and nasty rumor.”