The RNC Is Hosting Its Christmas Party This Year At Donald Trump's Hotel

The Republican National Committee will host its Christmas Party this year at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., the newest property of its newfound leader.

The event, which two GOP sources confirmed to The Huffington Post, is said to be a more exclusive and celebratory affair this year owing to the unexpected election victories enjoyed by the party this November. But in moving the proceedings to Donald Trump’s downtown D.C. hotel, which only opened this past fall, the committee risks furthering the perception that the president-elect is leveraging his newfound political power for private gains.

Trump has yet to announce his plans for handling or transferring his vast business empire once he takes office. But the New York Times reported on Wednesday night that Trump plans to step down from his post while still maintaining a stake in the company.

Such a move will likely leave critics and concerned politicians and observers unsatisfied about potential conflicts of interest. Already, there have been complaints that Trump has carelessly ― if not unethically ― intermingled his business and political affairs. Those first surfaced during the campaign, when he spent millions on his own plane and property, and extended to the first weeks of the transition as he made various calls to foreign officials who resided in countries where the Trump Organization does business.

His hotel in D.C. has been a focus of controversy too. 

Earlier this week, the conservative Heritage Foundation hosted a reception there featuring Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Foreign diplomats, meanwhile, have said they feel pressure to stay at the Trump International while in town, if only because staying elsewhere would send a bad signal to the incoming administration.

Source: Huffington Post

Donald Trump Drawing Fire From All Corners Of GOP

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Rival Republican presidential candidates piled on Donald Trump on Saturday for his caustic remarks about a female debate moderator, and the billionaire celebrity candidate backpedaled in an effort to keep his campaign from unraveling.

Trump blasted Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during a debate in Cleveland on Thursday when she questioned him about insulting comments he had made about women. The backlash to his exchange with Kelly has threatened to knock the wheels off the bandwagon of support that had Trump leading early polls in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2016 election.

Asked about Kelly on a CNN interview on Friday, Trump said: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."

Trump was promptly dumped from a keynote speaking role on Saturday night in Atlanta at an important gathering of conservative activists put together by the RedState organization. Republican candidates Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry and George Pataki denounced the comments on Twitter or in statements.

RedState chief Erick Erickson said he disinvited Trump because of his remarks about Kelly on CNN.

The Trump campaign issued a statement clarifying that by "her wherever," Trump meant Kelly's nose.

"Mr. Trump made Megyn Kelly look really bad - she was a mess with her anger and totally caught off guard," the campaign said. Trump said 'blood was coming out of her eyes and whatever' meaning nose, but wanted to move on to more important topics. Only a deviant would think anything else."

Erickson, who invited Kelly to replace Trump at the conference, said he revoked Trump's invitation because he did not "want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal."

A campaign spokeswoman said on Saturday that Trump had fired senior political adviser Roger Stone, the second firing of a senior staffer over the past week. The reason cited was that Stone was using the Trump campaign for his own personal publicity. Stone denied being fired, saying he resigned over the direction of Trump's campaign.

Trump also took to Twitter on Saturday to renounce politically correct attitudes, as he had done at the debate.

"So many 'politically correct' fools in our country," he wrote. "We have to all get back to work and stop wasting time and energy on nonsense!"

Rival candidates, however, hammered on their doubts that Trump was ready to represent the Republican party in a presidential run.

"Enough already with Mr. Trump," said Graham, a senator from South Carolina. "As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him."
He added: "Due to Donald Trump's unrelenting and offensive attack on Megyn Kelly and others, we are at a crossroads with Mr. Trump."

Without mentioning Trump's name, Jeb Bush made reference to him when he spoke to RedState. Bush, former governor of Florida, said the tough questions at the debate were nothing compared to the challenges the next president will face.

"You think that's tough? How about dealing with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin? How about dealing with the challenges that exist in our country? This is nothing," he said.

Erickson read aloud some of the emails he had been getting from Trump supporters to protest his move, saying it appeared the Trump campaign had made his email address available to them.

In some of the emails, according to Erickson, the writers used a racial epithet to refer to President Barack Obama and made other inflammatory comments.

"I've got to tell you guys, I made the right decision," said Erickson. "These are the people I don't ever want at a RedState event." (Writing and reporting by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: The Huffington Post