Policy
- President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday that his own businesses are taking a financial hit as a result of the novel coronavirus.
- He said he didn't know whether his organization would accept government assistance if it qualified.
- "Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected," he said. "They knew I was a successful person when I got elected."
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President Donald Trump said at a news conference on Saturday that his own businesses are taking a financial hit due to the spread of the novel coronavirus and that he wasn't sure whether his own businesses would receive any sort of potential government assistance.
"I wouldn't say it's thriving when you decide to close down your hotels and your businesses, no," Trump told reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room on Saturday afternoon. "Yeah, it's hurting me. It's hurting Hilton and it's hurting all of the great hotel chains all over the world. It's hurting everybody.
"There are very few businesses that are doing well now," he added.
The president said he wasn't even sure if Mar-a-Lago was still open, though he told reporters he had no immediate plans to visit the Florida resort. At least three people tested positive for COVID-19 not long after visiting the president's Florida club. It was closed for deep cleaning on Monday, though parts of the resort, including the beach club, were operating until at least Friday when it was entirely shut down, CNN reported.
The president said he didn't know whether any of his businesses would accept any form of government assistance should it qualify.
"I don't know. I just don't know what the government assistance would be for what I have," Trump said. "I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected, so it's one of those things."
Trump said he did not talk to people in the Trump Organization about the virus. He added he spoke to his sons, who have run the Trump organization since he took office, about COVID-19, though he said he did not speak to them about how it pertains to his businesses.
"I would probably decide to close things up. I think it's a good thing. You don't want people getting together," the president told reporters. "We want to beat this. So, I have many of them: hotels, clubs, things like that where people get together. I think it would be a good practice to close them up."
"They basically follow the rules when they say close em down in New York, we close them down or wherever they may be," he added.
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