Over the past three years, being the country’s commander-in-chief cost President Donald Trump between $2 billion and $5 billion in lost earnings, he said on Monday.
“It’s cost me anywhere from $2 [billion] to $5 billion to be president … between what I lose and what I could have made,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House.
“I would’ve made a fortune if I just ran my business—I was doing it really well,” he said, according to Fox Business.
However, Trump said he doesn’t regret it.
“If I had it to do it again I would do it in an instant, because who cares, if you can afford it, what difference does it make?” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
Trump ran a series of resorts bearing his namesake around the world before he became president. His children have taken over the family business.
“Whether I lost $2 billion, $5 billion or less, it doesn’t make any difference. I don’t care,” Trump told reporters. “I’m doing this for the country. I’m doing it for the people.”
In the meeting, Trump also discussed looking at different locations for next year’s G-7 summit after he went back on a decision to host the event at his Doral resort near Miami.
“I don’t think it’ll be as exciting, I don’t think it’ll be as good,” Trump said of the potential new location. “It’ll cost the country a fortune because it’s very expensive. … I was willing to do it for free but people didn’t like that. They thought I may get some promotional value,” as reported by Fox Business.
Doral in Miami would have been the best place to hold the G-7, and free, but too much heat from the Do Nothing Radical Left Democrats & their Partner, the Fake News Media! I’m surprised that they allow me to give up my $400,000 Plus Presidential Salary! We’ll find someplace else!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2019
He pilloried the media on Monday over the move.
“Doral in Miami would have been the best place to hold the G-7, and free, but too much heat from the Do Nothing Radical Left Democrats & their Partner, the Fake News Media!” he wrote in a tweet.
The G-7 is slated to include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, and Italy. It was formerly known as G-8 until Russia was booted out in 2014 over its incursion into the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.
