Trump’s golf clubs allow
lobbyists to buy access
 |
| And Trump also cheats. |
Reacting to the story, one observer wrote on
Twitter: "In the developing world, this is called corruption."
Membership lists of Trump's golf clubs are not publicly
available, so USA TODAY tracked
the names down through social media posts, news stories, and records on the
U.S. Golf Association website, which show players' handicaps and scores.
With those records, the news outlet found 4,500 names.
Prioritizing the clubs where Trump has spent the most time since taking office—in New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida—the reporting found "at least 50 executives whose companies hold federal contracts and 21 lobbyists and trade group officials. Two-thirds played on one of the 58 days the president was there," the reporting found.
It further shows that, for the first time in U.S. history,
wealthy people with interests before the government have a chance for close and
confidential access to the president as a result of payments that enrich him
personally. It is a view of the president available to few other Americans.
Listed among the ranks of the membership are top executives of
defense contractors, a lobbyist for the South Korean government, a lawyer
helping Saudi Arabia fight claims over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the
leader of a pesticide trade group that sought successfully to persuade the
Trump administration not to ban an insecticide government scientists linked to
health risks.
"No theory of ethical governance could justify this," tweeted Walter
Shaub, who resigned as
Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Director in July following ethics battles
with the Trump White House.
Shaub was also quoted in the USA
TODAY article, saying, "Face time is everything when it comes to
Washington," adding, "The president bopping around his properties
gives them access to him."
(It should also be noted that members' club initiation fees,
which can be upwards of $100,000, personally profit Trump, as McClatchy reported in
July. )
USA TODAY also notes an exchange that took
place in February between Trump and an airline industry lobbyist who appeared
to tout his membership at one of the president's golf clubs.
As Quartz reported at
the time, Kevin M. Burke, president and CEO of Airports Council
International–North America, said to Trump at a White House gathering,
"I'm a member of your club, by the way." Trump responded by saying,
“Very good, very good."
"It's not a quid pro quo, but it's one step away from a
suggestion of an exchange," said Norman Eisen, a former Obama
administration ethics official, to Quartz.
"It's part of a larger pattern, that is part of a bigger picture."
The new investigation follows the
launch of a new Public Citizen report, "President Trump Inc.," which
spotlights his "for-profit presidency" with an interactive map that
documents the tangled web of his vast business interests.
