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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump gets millions from golf members
CEOs and lobbyists get access to president
Dozens of lobbyists, contractors and others who make their living influencing the government pay President Trumps companies for membership in his private golf clubs, a status that can put them in close contact with the president, a USA TODAY investigation found.
Members of the clubs Trump has visited most often as president in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia include 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, according to scores they posted online.
Because membership lists at Trumps clubs are secret, the public has until now been unable to assess the conflicts they could create. USA TODAY found the names of 4,500 members by reviewing social media and a public website golfers use to track their handicaps, then researched and contacted hundreds to determine whether they had business with the government.
The review 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.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/09/06/trump-gets-millions-golf-members-ceos-and-lobbyists-get-access-president/632505001/
http://amp.usatoday.com/story/632505001/
no_hypocrisy
(46,151 posts)exclusive membership golf clubs. This situation just takes it up to the ultimate development of such a "tradition".
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)"Normally" the club membership is used so that business men can invite nonmembers to the club, thereby getting private time with a potential client/boss/partner. It costs that person, and the guest gets a little perk. But usually, in the end, the guest "pays" in terms of awarding a contract, making and investment, whatever. In this situation, the member is paying to get access to the President (the guest) and the president (guest) is in essence getting PAID (profiting from the activity).