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Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 190 ~ 22 of 40
Trump took particular issue with the idea that people who’d ed to the U.S. after disasters hit their homes in places such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti would be allowed to stay as part of the deal, according to the people briefed on the conversation.
When it came to talk of extending protections for Haitians, Durbin said Trump replied, “We don’t need more Haitians.’”
“He said, ‘Put me down for wanting more Europeans to come to this country. Why don’t we get more people from Norway?’” Durbin said.
Word of Trump’s comments threatened to upend delicate negotiations over resolving the status of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children. Trump an- nounced last year that he will end the Obama-era program unless lawmakers come up with a solution by March.
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Lemire reported from New York City.
Panama Hotel votes to drop Trump _ but his company won’t go By JEFF HORWITZ, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — An attempt to oust President Donald Trump’s hotel business from managing a luxury hotel in Panama has turned bitter, with accusations of nancial misconduct.
Trump Hotels is contesting its ring, and its staff ran off a team of Marriott executives invited last month to visit the property during a search for a new hotel operator, according to two people familiar with the matter.
After the owners’ association accused Trump Hotels of mismanagement and nancial misconduct in a $15 million arbitration claim, the company owned by the president red back with a $200 million counter- claim and refused to turn over the property’s nancial records. When a team from Marriott International Inc. came to the property at the invitation of the hotel’s majority owner, Trump staff asked them to leave, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly what happened behind the scenes.
The head of Trump Hotels, Eric Danziger, also called Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson to complain about the visit, the two people said.
Marriott generally steers clear of properties facing ownership and management disputes. But the call from a senior Trump executive to the CEO of Marriott, which manages more than 6,000 hotels, raised the awkward matter of how American companies interact with a business owned by the president.
Marriott, like most major international companies, has signi cant business and public policy interests before the Trump administration. Federal employees who travel and hold government conferences pay to use its properties, and Marriott has been lobbying the administration and Congress over U.S. tourism, trade and legal restrictions against property ownership in Cuba, disclosures to consumers about resort fees, and other issues.
Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten said the call was not intended to pressure Marriott.
“We have a great relationship with Marriott,” Garten said. “They were appreciative that we let them know that we have a valid contract.”
A spokeswoman for Marriott declined to comment.
The matter highlights potential ethics concerns raised by Trump’s decision not to divest himself from his businesses, said Larry Noble, head of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based public interest group that studies issues of democracy.
“I don’t know if they’ve got a valid contract or not,” Noble said. “But if you’re a big company, you’d really have to think twice before getting into a ght with one of the president’s companies.”
Since Trump took of ce, Trump hotels in New York and Toronto have quietly reached deals to separate themselves from Trump’s brand.