Trump-Abe trip to Florida raises ethical questions

The Trumps and Abes dine at the Mar-a-Lago
(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images)

After a friendly meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on Friday, President Trump along with first lady Melania Trump, Abe, and Japanese first lady Akie Abe flew to Florida to spend the weekend together at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. The two couples were joined by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft for dinner Friday, and on Saturday the two first ladies took a guided garden tour while their husbands played golf.

Though Trump has invited the Abes to stay at the Mar-a-Lago at his own expense rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill, the trip has still raised ethical questions. "Hosting a foreign leader at the president's business resort creates impossible sets of conflicts," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a watchdog organization. "Why should you go to a resort in Florida? Fine, you want to go to a resort in Florida? Don't go to one Trump's family owns."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.