The Spanish striker has been back among the goals of late, with it considered that a new approach at Stamford Bridge is better suited to his game

Alvaro Morata considers Maurizio Sarri to be the “perfect” Chelsea boss for him, after suggestions that Antonio Conte’s tactics were responsible for his testing debut season in England.

The Spanish striker arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2017 and was charged with the task of filling Diego Costa’s boots and leading the line for the Blues.

He did find the target 15 times in all competitions, but endured struggles for form and has admitted to suffering from a lack of confidence.

That is now being rebuilt under Sarri, with six goals recorded this term, and the 26-year-old is enjoying life under a popular coach whose approach is better suited to his game.

Morata told Gazzetta Dello Sport about his experience with the new Italian boss in west London and the benefits of ‘Sarriball’: “I was told that he’s a coach who plays very well with the ball and loves tactical work, but he also has a good personal relationship with the players.

“Sarri knows perfectly the difference between the various moments in the life of a squad: when you need to work he’s like a general and is the first to set the example when it’s time to joke he can have you dying of laughter.

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“That’s all reflected in the group, we’re getting on well together and we’re playing good football. The only reason we’re a little behind in the table is that we’ve had some draws.

“We haven’t been with Sarri for a long time though, we haven’t lost yet and that’s good because the competition is very tough in the Premier League. And we’ll improve.

“I was surprised that to talk to him you don’t need something to have happened, you’re injured or playing badly, or well.

“He’s always available and interested, he wants to know how you are, how your life is. Football issues, sure but also, I don’t know… the political situation in your country.

“One of the first times I met him, he asked me what I thought of Basque independence. I gasped, I didn’t expect that! We then talked about it passionately, and that’s something about him that’s not so obvious.

“His system is perfect for me, almost all the balls come to me when I’m in front of goal, and it’s much better than when I was playing with my back to goal and had to turn around – that’s not my game.

“One of the places I played best was Juventus, and there too I didn’t have to turn around, I just had to attack the space and run forward with the ball.

“That’s the same as now, and I’d have been able to score a few more goals if I’d been more precise.”

Morata opened the 2018-19 campaign with just one goal in nine appearances but has now netted five times in his last seven outings.

He has also returned to the Spain squad after seeing his struggles last season cost him a place in La Roja’s World Cup plans.

The executive vice-chair was speaking in an investors’ call as United reported a £7.1m rise in wages following Alexis Sanchez’s arrival

Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United players are ‘fully united’ in their determination to get their season back on course, the club’s executive vice-chair Ed Woodward said on Thursday.

United headed into the international break sitting in eighth place in the Premier League following their 3-1 derby loss to Manchester City on Sunday, and they are now 12 points adrift of their league-leading neighbours.

But Woodward insisted that, despite talk of rifts between players and manager which have dogged their progress so far, the playing staff are unified in their hope to get their league campaign back on track.

“On the pitch we remain well positioned in the Champions League, and although we’ve had a mixed start to our domestic campaign the squad and the manager are fully united in their determination to regain our momentum in the Premier League,” Woodward told investors.

He was speaking after the release of the club’s financial results for the first quarter of 2018-19, which detailed a significant raise in salary costs following the arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal in January.

United’s total wage bill for the quarter ending September 30, 2018 was £77 million, an increase of £7.1m (10.2 per cent) on the same period in 2017-18 before the winter signing of the Chilean attacker.

The club have also handed new contracts to Marouane Fellaini and Luke Shaw since the spring, but it is the £390,000 weekly wage of Sanchez which has seemingly had the biggest impact on the club’s costs.

There was also some regression in revenues, with commercial incomings being down 5.7% year-on-year and matchday revenues having dropped 27.2%. However, the club reported that the reduction in commercial money is in large part due to them having undergone a shorter summer tour in 2018.

Meanwhile, managing director Richard Arnold added that the £6.1m drop in matchday revenue was entirely foreseen due to the one-game reduction in both Premier League and Champions League home fixtures before the end of September compared to last season.

As a result, the total revenue loss of £8.7m is expected to be made up during the current financial quarter, which ends on December 31, 2018.

La Roja hammered the World Cup finalists 6-0 back in September, but the head coach and Luka Modric are not hunting for revenge in Zagreb

Zlatko Dalic and Luka Modric are not looking for revenge when Croatia meet Spain again in the UEFA Nations League.

Spain thrashed Croatia 6-0 in September and the sides face off in Zagreb on Thursday with top spot in League A’s Group 4 still up for grabs.

World Cup runners-up Croatia will qualify for the Nations League finals if they beat Spain and follow that up with another three points against England on Sunday.

And Croatia coach Dalic is focused on the task at hand rather than looking back at his side’s humiliation against Spain in the competition two months ago.

“In Elche, Croatia performed excellently for the first 20 minutes but failed to convert chances,” Dalic told reporters. “Now, we do not seek revenge, but a really important victory.

“If we win, we can decide who tops the group against England at Wembley, and what an encounter that would be, just like the World Cup semi-finals.

“Spain do not focus on possession anymore, but on quick, direct moves, and we have to be careful – they were brilliant against us and we have to respect this.”

Real Madrid midfielder Modric, familiar with many Spain players from club level, agrees with Dalic’s assessment of the encounter.

“As always, we enjoy good team spirit on the eve of a really difficult match,” Croatia’s captain said. “We do not think about revenge, this will be an entirely new match, in front of our fans, and Croatia have to be patient and wise, staying true to our style until the end.

“We will give our best, supported by the cheers from the stands, and I believe we can achieve a positive result. Back in September, we were emotionally and physically empty, and that’s normal in football. However, now we are in a better shape, and we need to show this on the pitch.

“Playing for Croatia is our main driving force, regardless of the competition or the opponent. Spain are full of great players, and their new manager [Luis Enrique] has brought new energy and created a compact team that knows what to do. Still, we are not afraid, and we can win.”

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The former Red Devils midfielder believes the exploits of Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund should be edging another young star towards a move

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Marcus Rashford has been urged to consider a move away from Manchester United, with Paul Ince of the opinion that a “naive” 21-year-old may be “jealous” of fellow youngsters such as Jadon Sancho.

A highly-rated Old Trafford academy graduate remains an important part of Jose Mourinho’s plans, but is not guaranteed regular starts and can often find himself frustrated on the bench.

England recognition continues to come his way, but there is a sense that he needs more minutes and greater support in order to fulfil his true potential.

Ince feels a transfer may be required in order for Rashford to hit those heights, with international team-mate Sancho having shown at Borussia Dortmund what can be achieved when taking the brave decision to leave Manchester.

“Yes, he’s naïve at times, but he’s got bags of talent and he’s still young,” former United star Ince told Paddy Power of Rashford’s situation.

“He always looks fantastic for England. His main issue is that at the minute it’s not clear what his best position is.

“He’s at the age now where he needs to decide whether he wants to play every so often for Man United, or all the time for another club.

“There are some players out there who are happy to train and not play on a Saturday, but I don’t think he’s one of those.

“If he doesn’t want to move permanently, he should be considering a loan move to another English club. Because he should be playing every week. He shouldn’t be a bit-part player.

“A part of me wonders whether he sees young players like Jadon Sancho, flying at Dortmund and playing every week, and feels a bit jealous. Everyone’s talking about these incredible youngsters, who play all the time and score goals.

“It’s worrying that, at the end of Mourinho’s time at Chelsea, players stop wanting to play for him and we’re potentially seeing that here at United now too.

“Personally, I don’t understand the attitude of refusing to play for a manager when you have thousands of fans who want to see you play, too.”

Rashford has been handed just five Premier League starts this season, with only two goals recorded in those outings.

He has managed more efforts for his country, with the target found three times for England – although he did draw a blank during the recent international break during outings against the United States and Croatia.

The Gabon international’s impressive equaliser left many in the stadium stunned, but his team-mate says it’s all second nature to him

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang showed he is similar to Thierry Henry with his second goal in Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Tottenham, Aaron Ramsey says.

The striker gave the home side the lead 10 minutes into Sunday’s north London derby as he converted a penalty, but saw his side fall behind after Eric Dier and Harry Kane found the net later in the half.

The Gabon international levelled the score with an impressive first-time finish from the edge of the box that left Hugo Lloris rooted to his spot. 

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Ramsey, who set Aubameyang up for his 10th Premier League goal of the season, said the 29-year-old pulls off such fine strikes for fun during the week and resembles the club’s all-time top scorer.

“He does that in training all the time. It reminds me of Thierry Henry’s finishes,” the midfielder told BBC Sport. “He’s been fabulous for us.”

Arsenal then took the initiative with goals from from Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira to seal an important win over their local rivals, and Ramsey felt they had been spurred on by Aubameyang’s effort.

“I think that was important for us to score that goal. Then you could really feel that the atmosphere was electric. That really helped us to get over the line and win convincingly in the end. 

“I have been here for many many years, it means an awful lot to me and to the fans as well. I am glad I played my part and we can all go home happy tonight. They could have gone six points in front of us but instead we’ve gone above them. The atmosphere was electric, that really helped us over the line in the end.”

Dier’s celebration for Tottenham’s first-half equaliser ended in a scrap between several players from both sides, but Ramsey says the disruption had no effect on the game.

“I’m not sure what went on on the touchline, something was said and the two teams came together,” he said. “What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch. Afterwards we were fully concentrated on coming back to win the game.”

Photographed by Jake Terrey, styled by Philippa Moroney, Vogue Australia, April 2019.

It’s awkward to talk about someone else’s beauty, but when faced with Jessica Gomes, it’s hard not to. And her good looks are what has kept her modelling for two decades. In person, pared back and natural, her beauty is especially apparent. Now 34, Gomes is also more at ease with herself, which also helps. “I feel like I know who I am now,” she says, today dressed in vintage Levi’s, which make an appearance in this Vogue shoot. “I know what I like and I know what looks good on me.”

Gomes as her authentic self is typically dressed in jeans, T-shirt and flats – currently Balenciaga boots or sneakers, Spring Court sneakers, or her most recent purchase, Chanel Velcro sandals. “I’m a size 40 but they only had a size 41 left at the Sydney David Jones” – the department store she has been an ambassador for since 2013.

“I look better natural. I feel so uncomfortable in a dress. I look at photos of dresses and think: ‘I want to look pretty and girlie’, but it’s just not me.”

As her sisters tell her, she always had her own distinct sense of style. Recently she found photographs of herself as a teenager wearing Doc Martens, short denim skirts and chokers. “I had forgotten, so I was like: ‘Wow, I really did kind of have that style when I was a kid.’” Her 20s were when she experimented. “As a model, people want to see you. But I was getting bored and wanted to rebel and wear a dress, or a colour, or a top with interesting detail … something a bit different. But now I’m back to where I was originally, what I really like, what is authentic to me. And honestly, I look and feel better in jeans and a T-shirt.”

Like her personal style, her beauty routine is also straightforward. “I’m pretty easygoing and laidback, and I don’t like to look intimidating – I don’t want people to notice my make-up. I like a nude lip, nothing too severe.”

One of her sisters is a beautician, and had Gomes not become a model, she would have followed in her footsteps. “I would have loved to have my own salon. I was always interested in beauty – I did my high school work experience placement in a beauty salon.” It’s a passion that led to the model launching her own beauty line, Equal Beauty, which is stocked at David Jones, at Los Angeles’s cult beauty destination Violet Grey, and by various beauticians in Western Australia.

Although she’s back in Australia for a few weeks, Gomes is now based in Los Angeles and her home, a cottage in Beverly Hills, is filled with art. “I like to have a neutral base, but the art in my house is colourful. I feel accomplished when I buy art, too – it’s grown up!” she says. “But do we ever grow up?” she asks, mentioning her latest read, Michelle Obama’s Becoming. “She [Michelle] talks about how we don’t ever get to a place where we feel grown up. To me, being grown up is getting married, buying a house, having kids – then I’d really feel grown up,” she says, laughing.

Art in her LA home ranges from pieces by Australian collage artist Dina Broadhurst to a treasured hand-woven tapestry she bought in Guilin, China, while on location for a Sports Illustrated shoot. “Next door to the hotel was a guy making tapestries, and I would see his progress on this every day,” she recalls.

It is only recently that she has had a rediscovered appreciation for Perth, the city where she grew up. “Now, at this time of my life, I have to say I really love Los Angeles and I really love Perth. I would never have thought that’s what I would say about Perth, but it really is so special – it’s so Aussie and salt of the earth. I realised how much I loved Perth over this past summer holiday.”

Gomes’s parents and siblings live in Perth – her father is Portuguese, her mother Singaporean Chinese, giving the model her otherworldly beauty.

Her mother enrolled her into modelling classes as an adolescent after she struggled with a change of school. The activity allowed her to meet other children her age. “We would learn parades and it was a fun hobby, but then suddenly I started to work as well, so I’ve been modelling for a really long time … since I was 10. It’s always been a part of my life.

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It’s a career that has taken her around the world. Living in LA for the past seven years has influenced her style. Denim, the LA uniform, dominates her wardrobe. “It’s definitely made my style more relaxed.” She owns 50 pairs of jeans, at an approximate estimate, and this is after she culled more than 100 items – over half of wardrobe – by selling them on TheRealReal. “It was very cleansing,” she says.

She’ll be wearing those jeans with her new handbag, the Dior Saddle. “With the monogram pattern … it’s a bit different but in the blue denim colour – it’s almost a neutral colour,” she says. “For me, I feel best when I’m comfortable and effortless. When I’m in jeans, a T-shirt and a blazer – I feel like I can move and I just feel me.”

This article originally appeared in Vogue Australia’s April 2019 issue.

Air travel is exhausting and draining at the best of times. Testing patience and family bonds, travelling might enrich lives and expand horizons, but the journey often comes at an emotional toll—a more than valid reason to explain why airport lounges have become the golden ticket to comfortable travel. 

Known for their airport lounges the world over, American Express has now opened their revamped and renovated Sydney lounge. Located in the international terminal, the brand new American Express space is three times the size of the previous lounge and proves the perfect place to unwind before a flight or during a layover. 

The lounge features freshly made meals prepared by a team of chefs, a fully stocked bar and plenty of comfortable places to sit. Comfort aside, wellness is also a key priority for the lounge, with a selection of vegan and vegetarian dishes on offer to order. A suite of three showers is also available to use, complete with products from L’Occitane—because we all know feeling fresh before a flight can make all the difference. 

“Airport lounge access continues to be one of the most valued benefits for our card members and we know from the success of our lounges around the world that travellers appreciate the  stress-free environment, complimentary dining, and luxury amenities that our American Express Lounges offer,” Naysla Edwards, vice president of brand, charge cards and experiences at American Express ANZ said of the opening. 

Airport lounges have become something of a design mainstay for seasoned air travellers, with many frequent flyers choosing airlines based on the quality of their lounges. This latest opening from American Express sees the traveller-focused card company join the luxury leagues of Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Emirates, who all operate world class lounges out of Sydney airport. And with travel plans getting more frequent and seats getting smaller, it only makes sense that there’s more of a market for stretching out and enjoying a cocktail pre-flight. Chin chin! 

Open to select American Express cardholders, the international lounge is open now. Visit: AmericanExpress.com

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Image credit: courtesy of 16Arlington.

Marco Capaldo and Federica Cavenati, the founders behind cult label 16Arlington, know how to make conversation-starting party pieces. The design duo met while studying at the London branch of Istituto Marangoni, the legendary Italian school of fashion and design. Both took inspiration from their own Italian heritage (Capaldo was raised in London, while Cavenati is from Bergamo, near Milan), but their practices varied greatly: Cavenati had a minimal, sculptural aesthetic, while Capaldo loved glitter, crystals and all-out glamour. When they became a couple and decided to collaborate, the outcome was a brand that was equal parts elegance and exuberance.  

Image credit: courtesy of 16Arlington.

They founded 16Arlington in September 2017, working firstly out of their shared flat on Arlington Street, London, and then from a studio. Global stockists took notice — Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Lane Crawford in China, Selfridges in the UK, Penelope in Italy — and the brand quickly amassed a celebrity clientele. Lady Gaga wore their silver midi-dress to a Q&A for in November 2018; Jennifer Lopez sported a purple-hued feather coat backstage at Met Gala 2019; and in July, Lena Dunham donned an orange-sequinned gown with marabou trimming for the London premiere of . In February 2019, they passed yet another milestone: joining the London Fashion Week show schedule for the first time, furthering the global reach of the company.                 

Below, meets the pair to discuss the growth of their brand, their “Cher of Italy” Raffaella Carrà-inspired spring/summer 2020 collection and what we should all be wearing when the festive invitations start pouring in.

Image credit: courtesy of 16Arlington.

The brand is named after your first studio on 16 Arlington Street, London. How did that location inspire the label?
Marco Capaldo [MC]: “We wanted to live together after university, and needed a place where we could set up a studio in our home. We found this derelict building on Arlington Street that was being resold, and we had it for eight months.” 

Federica Cavenati [FC]: “We found out that the flat was above a brothel on our first night there. Our dog escaped, ran down our stairs and somehow went into it. I followed him and when I looked up, all I could see were fishnets and glossy trench coats.”

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MC: “It was a bit mad, but we loved the flat because all our friends and family would come round and crash at ours, steal the samples we were making and wear them on nights out. They’d come back the next day with their friends to place orders.” 

Image credit: courtesy of 16Arlington.

What was your big break?
MC: “We put together a small collection in 2017 and took it to tradeshows in Paris. Then, [chief brand officer of Moda Operandi] Lauren Santo Domingo wore one of our coats! She got it through [celebrity stylist] Rebecca Corbin-Murray who’d seen our graduate collection and reached out to us for a piece. After that, Moda Operandi came on board and it just snowballed from there.”

Image credit: Getty images

Now you’re stocked across four continents. Why do you think the brand has such a global appeal?
MC: “We’re all about promoting a good time and there’s definitely an element of escapism, especially with what’s going on around the world politically. It’s not necessarily about forgetting what’s going on right now, but rather creating a sort of safe haven.”

Image credit: Shuttershock

Was that a jumping-off point for the spring/summer 2020 collection, too?
MC: “There were nostalgic nods to the 1960s and we took disco queen [Italian singer] Raffaella Carrà as our muse. She’s the Cher of Italy. The collection had beaded gowns, feathered cocktail dresses and lamé suits. We’re always thinking about what our core customer wants to wear and how we can turn up the volume.”

Image credit: Shuttershock

What have been your highlights so far?
MC: “It’s amazing to see VIPs — Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Lena Dunham, Jorja Smith — in the brand, but then the other day we were rushing down the stairs of the Tube at Oxford Circus station because we saw someone wearing our coat. Real women are parting with their money to buy something we’ve designed.” 

FC: “We get tagged in so many posts on Instagram. I look through the tags daily, plus every weekend we have a routine where we go to Selfridges and Harvey Nichols to see the collection.”

Image credit: Shuttershock

If we only buy one item from 16Arlington this party season, which one should it be?
MC: “Our strapless Minelli dress with the feather hem is always a bestseller. It’s timeless.”

FC: “And looking ahead to spring/summer 2020, we love the black-and-white leather coat. It’ll be a staple in my wardrobe for the coming season.”

WASHINGTON — 

A rare, underappreciated drama broke out in last week’s Democratic presidential debate in Ohio: The candidates had a serious argument over foreign policy.

Asked about President Trump’s decision to let Turkey seize northern Syria, the Democrats unleashed a predictable flood of condemnation: “outrageous,” “shameful,” “a betrayal of American values.”

But they divided on what U.S. strategy in Syria ought to be.

“I would not have withdrawn the troops,” former Vice President Joe Biden said. “I would … make it clear that they’re not going anywhere.”

“A small number of specialized, special operations forces and intelligence capabilities were the only thing that stood between that part of Syria and what we’re seeing now, which is the beginning of a genocide and the resurgence of ISIS,” added Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren dissented.

“I think that we ought to get out of the Middle East,” she said. “I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East.”

Warren’s campaign later clarified that she doesn’t propose to abandon the Middle East entirely, but only wants to withdraw all “combat troops.”

Even so, the Massachusetts senator made clear that one of her first priorities is to remove U.S. troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.

So next year’s presidential election could offer voters two choices when it comes to foreign policy that haven’t been seen since the 1930s: A race between two candidates who both want to scale back U.S. commitments or a contest between an isolationist Republican and a more hawkish Democrat.

Since World War II, both parties have shared a rough consensus on U.S. engagement abroad — except when they divided between Republican hawks and Democratic doves.

This time, the cleavage between hawks and doves splits both parties, thanks to Trump, who often talks like a hawk, threatening “fire and fury” against countries that get in his way, but acts like a dove, avoiding real confrontations.

The Democrats’ internecine debate is nothing new. The contest of relatively centrist, internationalist candidates (Biden, Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota) against progressive insurgents more skeptical of U.S. engagement abroad (Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii) would be familiar to anyone who has watched a primary contest since the Vietnam War.

The Republican fracture is more unusual, more disruptive — and perhaps more portentous.

Trump is breaking with a Republican foreign policy tradition that’s been in place since 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated the isolationist Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio for the GOP nomination.

Republican internationalism persisted through the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and (in an assertive variant) George W. Bush, who launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trump, who was a registered Democrat during most of that period, doesn’t see himself as an heir to that tradition. His closest Republican forebear is Patrick J. Buchanan, who campaigned for president in 1988 as a neo-isolationist.

The president disdains traditional military alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He has campaigned for increased military spending, but less use of military force.

“I campaigned on bringing our soldiers back home, and that’s what I’m doing,” he told reporters last week.

In a not-very-Republican vein, Trump blamed the “military-industrial complex” for some of America’s wars.

“A lot of companies want to fight, because they make their weapons based on fighting, not based on peace,” he said.

He’s getting furious rhetorical pushback from a few traditionalist Republicans in Congress, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

“Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake,” McConnell wrote in the Washington Post on Friday. “It will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances.”

“There is no substitute for American leadership,” McConnell added. “As neo-isolationism rears its head on both the left and the right, we can expect to hear more talk of ‘endless wars.’ But rhetoric cannot change the fact that wars do not just end; wars are won or lost.”

Public opinion polls suggest that McConnell, not Trump, speaks for a majority of Americans — including many Democrats.

A survey in June by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 59% of Americans supported military intervention in Syria and Iraq to quash Islamic terrorist groups. That included 59% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans. But surveys also indicate that support for internationalism is broad, but shallow — while voters on the left and right who want to bring troops home often feel passionately about the subject.

Trump “may be right on the politics,” said David Axelrod, a former strategist for President Obama. “A lot of his voters are nodding their heads in agreement with him, and I think he knows that.”

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Those survey numbers also suggest that there may be an opportunity for a Democrat who differs sharply with Trump to woo a few crossover votes from traditionalist Republicans.

Will this issue decide the presidential election? Almost certainly not — unless another blunder by Trump makes foreign policy a front-burner issue. International issues typically rank low among voters’ concerns except in times of crisis.

But that doesn’t mean the stakes are low.

Will the next president continue the work of Trump’s first term and disengage the United States from alliances that have lasted for 75 years?

Or will he or she stay engaged overseas without falling prey to new military interventions?

America’s role in the world will be on the ballot, too.

WASHINGTON — 

President Trump on Saturday abruptly reversed his plan to hold the next Group of Seven world leaders’ meeting at his Doral, Fla., golf resort next year.

Accused of using the presidency to enrich himself by hosting the international summit at a private resort owned by his family, Trump announced a rare backtrack Saturday night.

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“Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020,” Trump tweeted. He said his administration “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.”

The president’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, held a press conference Thursday announcing the choice of Doral for the summit. He insisted his staff had concluded it was “far and away the best physical facility.” Mulvaney said the White House reached that determination after visiting 10 sites across the country.

Trump had been the first administration official to publicly float the selection of his property to host the summit when in August he mentioned it was on the short list and praised its facilities and proximity to Miami’s international airport. His comments, more than a month before the official announcement, drew instant criticism from good governance groups and Democrats, who said it raised concerns that Trump was using the White House to boost his personal finances

The vociferous criticism did not die down, even as Trump insisted he would host the summit at cost, though he refused to disclose financial details. The annual heads-of-state gathering would at minimum have provided good-will value to his property.

An hour before Trump’s announcement, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned the selection of Doral for the summit. “Hosting the G7 at Trump’s hotel? A president should never be able to use the office for personal gain,” said the former vice president.

On Thursday, Mulvaney had discounted Camp David, the government-owned presidential retreat, as the site for the summit, saying, “I understand the folks who participated in it hated it and thought it was a miserable place to have the G-7.” He added that it was too small and remote for the international summit.

Mulvaney said then that unspecified sites in Hawaii and Utah had also been on the short list. It was unclear if they were still under consideration.