Trump encouraged Pence to stay at Trump’s own golf resort in Ireland, far from meeting sites

Vice President Mike Pence's top aide said Tuesday that Pence and members of his traveling entourage are staying at a golf resort in Ireland owned by President Donald Trump at Trump's suggestion. He defended an arrangement that Democrats have criticized as enriching the president, citing logistical concerns.

Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff, told reporters traveling with Pence aboard Air Force Two that the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel was "the one facility" that could accommodate the size of the delegation traveling with Pence in Doonbeg, a village from which Pence's family hails. The hotel has 120 rooms.

Pence himself echoed that rationale while speaking to reporters later in Dublin.

"I understand political attacks by Democrats, but if you have a chance to get to Doonbeg, you'll find it's a fairly small place and the opportunity to stay at the Trump National in Doonbeg, to accommodate the unique footprint that comes with our security detail and other personnel, made it logical," Pence said at a news conference outside the U.S. ambassador's residence.

"We checked it with the State Department. They approved us staying there. And I was pleased to have the opportunity return to that family hometown," Pence said.

Short said that Pence's last-minute changes to his European tour, due to Hurricane Dorian and Trump's request for Pence to go in his place to Poland over the weekend, affected the vice president's itinerary.

"We followed normal protocol for this trip as we do every other trip," Short said, adding that the State Department had signed off on Pence's travel plans, and the government had negotiated room rates with the Trump property.

During his taxpayer-funded trip to Ireland, Pence is flying to meetings in Dublin, nearly 150 miles away. Asked why Pence chose not to stay in Dublin, Short said that the vice president's schedule had changed too late to make such a change.

"When the hurricane arose and the president asked the vice president to go to Poland in his stead, our logistical challenge was how do we make that all work?" Short said. "We took the Ireland component that was at the back end of the trip and moved it to the front, because it had already been secured by Secret Service. They had done all the advance work. And the facility, we knew, was safe and protected."

Asked if Trump had asked Pence to stay at his property in Doonbeg, Short characterized it as "a suggestion."

"It's like when we went through the trip, it's like, 'Well, he's going to Doonbeg because that's where the Pence family is from,' " Short said. "It's like, 'Well, you should stay at my place.' "

"It wasn't like a, 'You must.' It wasn't like, 'You have to,' " Short said.

Doonbeg reported losing more than $1 million every year from 2014 to 2017, according to Irish corporate records.

In 2018, the course's revenue rose slightly - up about 2 percent from $14.2 million to $14.5 million, according to Trump's latest U.S. financial disclosures.

But those disclosures do not show whether the course turned a profit, and the Irish records that would show profit or loss are not yet available.

Democrats have seized on Pence's stay to suggest that Trump is seeking to enrich himself from government business.

A tweet from the Democratic National Committee on Monday noted that Trump was playing golf at one of his properties in Virginia at the same time Pence was staying at a Trump property in Ireland.

"Your tax dollars: making the Trump family richer," the tweet said.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., also weighed in with a tweet directed at Pence.

"You took an oath to the Constitution, not to @realDonaldTrump," Lieu wrote. "Funneling taxpayer money to @POTUS by staying at this Trump resort is sooooooo corrupt."

Short dismissed Lieu's criticism, saying that he is "often looking to try to get into you all's news stories. So I'm not too worried about Ted Lieu's comments."

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol, a frequent Trump critic, also criticized the arrangement, suggesting Pence was trying to curry favor with Trump so he would remain on the Republican ticket next year.

"How worried must Pence be about being dumped from the ticket to go these lengths to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars at a Trump resort?" Kristol wrote.

Short also told reporters that an advantage to Pence staying at Trump's golf resort was that Trump had stayed there during his presidency, and the White House is familiar with the property.

"Keep in mind, the Secret Service has protected that facility for him, too, so they sort of know the realities, they know the logistics around that facility," Short said.

Short told reporters that he thinks this is the first time Pence has stayed a Trump property.

Pence's political action committee, the Great America Committee, spent about $87,000 putting on an event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington in January.

Pence has visited Doonbeg. In 2013, he and his family visited the small town, where Hugh McNally, a distant cousin of the vice president, runs Morrissey's pub.

Pence is scheduled to return to Morrissey’s, also known as Morrissey’s Bar & Restaurant, on Tuesday evening, after returning from Dublin. Trump sons, Don Jr. and Eric, visited the pub in early June. It is a short drive from the Trump property.