Thread by @msbellows

I just read the full Mulvaney transcript. On G7/Doral alternatives: "there was one place… I won’t say where it was… where we actually had to figure out if we were going to have to have oxygen tanks for the participants because of the altitude."
rev.com/blog/mick-mulv…
1/

I'm guessing that was Snowbird (8,100'), which... yeah, they'd be dispensing Diamox from candy dishes. The other Utah facility they were considering probably was Canyons Grand Summit (6,800'), which also is high enough to trouble some folks.

So, legit to reject them, right?
2/

Yeah... NOT right. Elevation info is available from Google, which makes me wonder why these two facilities made it to the final four that senior people actually visited before choosing Doral. Why include two objectively unsuitable facilities on the short list?
3/

One cute (+ possibly partially correct) answer is that someone on that senior team is a skier. (Who visited, and when?) (I once had a lawsuit in Denver; my para was a skier too; and damn right we scheduled depositions for Fridays! Thanks for the airfare, Lloyd's/London!)
4/

But more saliently: did they "narrow it down" to clearly UNsuitable venues to justify choosing Trump's Doral? "It came down to the Turlock Motel 6, some roadside teepees near Winslow, or my resort -- so, darn it, you can see we didn't really have a choice!"

See how it works?
5/

Which probably is why Mulvaney said, "hell no, we won't share details of the selection process!" (ok, actually: "if you want to see our paper on how we did this, the answer is absolutely not"),
then blanched/dodged when the prospect of a Congressional investigation came up:
6/

Mulvaney also said Trump would offer the resort "at cost," resulting in huge cost savings compared to the alternatives. I have one Q and one note:
Q: is EVERYTHING at cost, including catering, individual meals, and (esp.) the other nations' lodgings? Or just the US's end?
7/

N: Doral has been "hemorrhaging money" and running only about half occupancy. (miaminewtimes.com/news/revenue-h…) Filling rooms, even at cost, is a HUGE benefit to Trump, preventing what otherwise would be out-of-pocket losses during a slack month. So: nice try, but nah...
8/

(And even "at cost" is a wobbly concept. There are lots of profit centers built into an operation like that: bars, room service (HUGE for a conference like G7), closely-held "subcontractors," etc. Trump borrowed heavily to buy Doral; is his debt service part of "cost"?)
9/

So I guess what I'm saying is: yeah, yeah, I know Ukraine is in the center ring, but if @RepJerryNadler wants to hire an experienced, politically-savvy trial lawyer/investigator to look into Doral emoluments, I'm available. I'll even work... at cost. :-)
10/10