U.S. Vice President Mike Pence drew criticism from Democrats on Tuesday when he began a two-day visit to Ireland with meetings in the capital, Dublin, but stayed at a hotel owned by President Donald Trump almost 300 kilometers (180 miles) away.
Pence flew to Dublin on Tuesday after spending the night at the Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg on the west coast of Ireland. The hotel also hosted the Trump family during a short trip to Ireland by the president in June.
Asked if Trump had suggested Pence stay at the property, the vice president’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told journalists, “I think that it was a suggestion.”
“It’s like when we went through the trip it’s like, `Well, he’s going to Doonbeg because that is where his family is from, it’s like `oh, you should stay at my place’,” Short said. “It wasn’t like a `you must’. It wasn’t like a `you have to’.”
California Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu on Twitter accused Pence of “funneling taxpayer money” to Trump by staying at the hotel. “You took an oath to the Constitution, not to @realDonaldTrump,” Lieu said. – READ MORE