“Inappropriate and irresponsible”: That’s what Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger called a media-driven nationwide search for the locations of the 39 proposed locations for the company’s Scion and American Idea brand hotels.
Media outlets Forbes and ProPublica are leading that search. (To date, the company has announced four locations in Mississippi for the two brands, and says that it has letters of intent for all 39). So far, the two outlets have discovered six locations, but, in an effort to find the rest, they’ve put out a national request, recruiting “local reporters and civically engaged citizens” across the U.S. The two companies are even including a playbook of sorts, with strategies and tips for conducting local reporting.
“It saddens me that journalists would call on others to dig into the working business deals of a private business. It is inappropriate and irresponsible,” Danziger said via email.
“We are a hotel company going about our business, which is to pair the appropriate owners and facilities to bring about a successful enterprise for our brand, hotel owners and the communities where the properties will be located,” he continued. “Let’s not forget that these communities are positively impacted by the creation of jobs and the other benefits local business brings.”
On Tuesday, the two outlets published a story highlighting a campaign contribution by Suresh Chawla (the developer helming the first Scion) of US$50,000, with roughly half of that going to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign and the other half to the Republican National Committee.
When Trump pledged in January to separate himself from his businesses, he also vowed that his business would not maintain any ties to the presidency.