President Donald Trump won’t rule out accepting government assistance for his Trump Organization after the company closed Mar-a-Lago, fired staff, and even shut down the bars at its Washington D.C. luxury hotel in the wake of the coronavirus.
‘I don’t know. I mean, I just don’t know what the government assistance would be for what I have. I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it’s one of those things,’ he said Saturday at his daily coronavirus briefing.
The administration is working on a financial rescue package for workers and businesses affected by the disease.
‘Is it hurting me? Yeah, it’s hurting Hilton, it’s hurting all the great hotel chains all over the world. It’s hurting everybody,’ the president said of the economic fallout of the coronavirus. ‘Very few businesses that are doing well.’
President Donald Trump won’t rule out accepting government assistance for his Trump Organization after the company closed Mar-a-Lago and other properties
But, he added, the closures were a good thing as more than 22,000 people in the United States have been affected and almost 300 people have died.
‘I think it’s a good thing. You don’t want people getting together hotels and clubs and everything, you get together. We want to beat this deal. I have many of them, hotels, clubs, things like that where people get together. I would think it would be a good practice to close them up,’ Trump said.
The president said he also didn’t give his sons – Don Jr. and Eric – who took over running the company after he was elected – any advance warning about restrictions coming to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.
‘I didn’t speak to anybody,’ he said. ‘I speak to my sons. They basically follow the rules. When they say close them down in New York, we close them down or wherever they may be having them.’
Several states where the Trump Organization has properties have closed bars, restaurants, gyms, clubs and other areas where large numbers of people gather to help contain the spread.
‘Various facilities are temporarily closed given local, state and federal mandates. We anxiously await the day when this pandemic is over and our world-class facilities can reopen,’ a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told DailyMail.com.
President Donald Trump’s company has closed Mar-a-Lago, which the president usually visits on weekends this time of year
Mar-a-Lago became Ground Zero for the coronavirus after a Brazilian official who dined there tested positive for the disease
Bars in The Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. closed because of the mayor’s call to close them in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus
The White House is pushing for a $1 trillion package that would include $200 billion for the airlines and other critical industries directly affected by the coronavirus, such as the hospitality industry. Hotels and restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic as people are staying home.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally who has dined at Mar-a-Lago, on Friday issued an executive order that all restaurants and gyms in the state must close. Restaurants are allowed to do take-out orders.
Earlier this week he closed bars and nightclubs to slow down the spread of the disease during Spring Break’s high peak season.
But the order also affected Trump’s Winter White House in Palm Beach, which became Ground Zero for the administration and the virus after a Brazilian official who attended a dinner there March 8 tested positive for the disease.
That had a cascade effect as the president was at the dinner along with several members of his administration and the first family. President Trump has tested negative for the disease.
But the club was closed Monday for a deep cleaning. Other guests from the March 8 event had to be tested for the virus. At least three cases have been tied to attendees there.
Normally, the president would spend weekends at Mar-a-Lago this time of year, where he would enjoy dinner with his fellow club members and spending time at his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.
Additionally, earlier this week, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered all restaurants, bars, and clubs to close to help contain the pandemic.
That order closed the restaurant and bar at the Trump International Hotel Washington D.C., which sets just blocks from the White House.
The hotel is a popular watering hole for Republicans. Members of the Trump family have been seen in its bars and restaurants when they are in town. And the president sometimes dines there.
‘As an organization we are following federal, state and local direction and guidance very carefully,’ Eric Trump, who took over leading the company after his father’s election, told The New York Times.
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York has fired 40 members of its staff as it struggles ahead of a’significant shortfall in revenues’
At Trump’s National Doral Miami club, the golf course is closed but the pool remains open
The Trump Organization cut staff – 40 from its New York hotel and 95 per cent from its Washington location – along with closing golf courses in Los Angeles and the Miami area, the paper reported.
In a letter to owners of units in the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on Thursday and obtained by The Times, general manager Matthew Vandegrift warned of a ‘significant shortfall in revenues.’
‘While we recognize that hope is not a strategy, I can assure you we are thoroughly analyzing expenses,’ Vandegrift wrote. ‘Strategies have been deployed to mitigate the expected financial losses as a result of COVID-19.’
Several business have had to take lay off staff after being closed to help stop the spread of the highly contagious disease.
The Trump Organization owns more than a dozen golf clubs and at least partially owns or operates hotels in Chicago, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, Vancouver and Washington D.C., as well as Ireland and Scotland.
The president’s Bedminster New Jersey golf club, where he often spends summer weekends, is open for play although the club told members no caddies or other services were available.
At Trump’s National Doral Miami club, the golf course is closed but the pool remains open.
