Court tells Trump to turn over Mar-a-Lago visitor logs

Court tells Trump to turn over Mar-a-Lago visitor logs

Trump asked to turn over Mar-a-Lago visitor records

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AFP•July 17, 2017

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) -- one of the known presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago -- poses with Donald Trump at the estate in April (AFP Photo/JIM WATSON) More

Washington (AFP) - A US court has asked President Donald Trump's staff to turn over records of visitors to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to a ruling made public Monday.

As president, Trump has visited his southern bolthole -- which he calls the "Winter White House" -- seven times between February and May when it closed for the season, according to an AFP tally.

The constant string of visitors raised transparency concerns and prompted a legal challenge from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

In response, a New York court has asked the Secret Service to turn over records of the people who visited Trump by September 8.

"The public deserves to know who is coming to meet with the president and his staff," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said.

"We are glad that as a result of this case, this information will become public for meetings at his personal residences—but it needs to be public for meetings at the White House as well."

The group has also challenged Trump's decision to stop publishing White House visitors' logs, a case that is ongoing.

CREW told AFP they would be looking closely to see the scope of what is turned over.

The court has asked for "records of presidential visitors," but it is not yet clear how broadly that is defined.

Trump owns Mar-a-Lago, but the resort has numerous members and guests who stay on site, having paid membership to the president's firm.

A spokesman told AFP that CREW plans to file a request for records about visitors to Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey property later this week.

Trump has visited that property four times since May, when Mar-a-Lago closed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-ask...161751274.html

Oh you disgusting worthless Peeping Toms, you make me want to puke. Who our President meets and greets and has over or dines with in private is absolutely none of your business or anyone else's. I hope Trump takes this all the way to the US Supreme Court. When the President has no privacy, none of US have any privacy. Shut these stupid window peepers down. And impeach the Judge who ruled they could get private property visitor logs.

Trump sort of gave up any real expectation of privacy when he was elected President of the United States. Since Trump spends so much time at Mar-a-Lago and considers most of his trips there working trips the record of his visitors should not be private. As for the White House visitor logs, they certainly shouldn't be private. The White House belongs to the people and Donald Trump was hired by the people and works for the people!

For goodness sakes, we're not asking for a transcript of his meeting minutes, we're just asking for a minimum of transparency in knowing who is visiting our house. I for one do not think that is asking too much.

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For goodness sakes, we're not asking for a transcript of his meeting minutes, we're just asking for a minimum of transparency in knowing who is visiting our house.

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Mar-A-Lago is not "our house". It's his house. His private property. We have no right at all to see who visits his property, they have privacy rights, he has privacy rights in his own house.

The Judge erred in my opinion and it's my wager, he will be over-turned at the higher court level if Trump pursues it.

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Originally Posted by Judy

Mar-A-Lago is not "our house". It's his house. His private property. We have no right at all to see who visits his property, they have privacy rights, he has privacy rights in his own house.

The Judge erred in my opinion and it's my wager, he will be over-turned at the higher court level if Trump pursues it.

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When I was talking about "our house", I was talking about the White House visitor logs. As for Mar-a-Lago, he says most of his trips there are working trips, which means he is meeting people there to conduct government business. I can't speak for everyone else on this, but I certainly think the call for transparency on whom he is meeting in the performance of his duties is reasonable.

The White House visitor logs are protected, if he doesn't want to disclose them, then they won't and can't be disclosed, and Trump decided he doesn't want to disclose them so they won't be.

Mar-A-Lago is a resort, has members, visitors and guests. The Secret Service "log" is everyone logged in through security whether they have anything to do with Trump or not. The answer is very simple: NO.

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Originally Posted by Judy

The White House visitor logs are protected, if he doesn't want to disclose them, then they won't and can't be disclosed, and Trump decided he doesn't want to disclose them so they won't be.

Mar-A-Lago is a resort, has members, visitors and guests. The Secret Service "log" is everyone logged in through security whether they have anything to do with Trump or not. The answer is very simple: NO.

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Say what you will and think how you want, but don't expect everyone else to agree with you or Trump on this. Outside of information that may threaten our national security, there is nothing wrong with transparency in government, period.

Donald Trump requested 64 foreign guest workers for his “winter White House”

https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2...rip=all&w=2400The ideal setting to respond to national security threats. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

WRITTEN BY
Tim Fernholz
OBSESSION

"America First"
February 13, 2017

When US president Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gathered to condemn a North Korean missile test, they did it just fifty yards from a wedding reception at Trump’s Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago, with celebratory music underscoring the threat of nuclear warfare.

That fees from that wedding, along with any other profits earned at the club, continue to line Trump’s pockets through a trust that lawyers say doesn’t eliminate conflicts of interest, since Trump has access to information about the profits and losses at his companies and can take control of the assets at any time. One way Trump is maximizing profits? He got permission from the US Department of Labor to hire 64 foreign guest workers to wait on his guests, cook their food and clean their rooms during the winter high season in Florida.

Trump had applied to bring in these workers while promising during his presidential campaign to kick undocumented immigrants out of the United States and block imports. At the time, he defended the guest worker practice by saying it was common among US companies, who will bring in 119,000 temporary workers in 2016 and 2017, many to work seasonal jobs. Temporary foreign workers come into the country under the H-2B visa program.

The Palm Beach Post reports that the latest documents released by the labor department—which will now be put in the position of approving future requests by the US president to hire guest workers—show that Trump cut wages for some of these employees. Cooks saw a 19-cent drop in wages per hour, while maids and servers saw a 10-cent bump.

Overtime rates rose.

According to the kind of economic calculations endorsed by Trump and his campaign team, those 64 jobs were essentially stolen from Americans. But Trump’s family companies frequently use guest workers and his appointee to run the Department of Labor, Andy Puzder, has defended them in the past.

Many economists argue that bringing these workers to the US is one of the most powerful forms of foreign aid, since their earning power here outstrips that in their native countries.

Beyond the contradictions in his economic policy on foreign workers, Trump’s apparent decision to use Mar-a-Lago as his weekend get-away while serving as president—besides costing taxpayers millions in additional travel and security fees—raises information security concerns. Aides scrambling to prep the US president for his remarks on North Korea’s missile test Feb. 11 apparently briefed him at his table in the middle of the club’s restaurant, using their mobile phones to illuminate briefing papers arrayed before him. Aside from the potential for hacking, unlike at the White House, the staff working in the club aren’t subject to background checks; indeed, the H-2B process is notoriously abused.

When president Trump is freelancing on foreign policy at his private restaurant, do we really know who else is listening?

https://qz.com/909220/donald-trump-r...r-white-house/

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