Kuwait Celebration Raises Conflict Of Interest Questions
February 25, 20176:33 AM ET
JACKIE NORTHAM
For more than a decade, Kuwait's ambassador to the U.S., Salem al-Sabah, has held a gala event every Feb. 25 to celebrate his country's national day. The annual holiday commemorates the tiny Gulf state's independence from British rule in 1961. Traditionally, the event has been held at the Four Seasons Hotel, in the heart of Washington, D.C.
But Sabah says he feels his guests have wanted a change. Last year, he held the celebration at the Newseum. For this year, he and his wife, Rima, looked into the newly opened Trump International Hotel as another possibility ...
The Kuwaiti embassy canceled a "save the date" reservation with the Four Seasons and booked instead with the Trump hotel, a few blocks from the White House, for 600 guests. Sabah says he has taken heat for that decision, including suggestions that Kuwait is trying to curry favor with the new U.S. president ...
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/25/517039323/kuwait-celebration-at-trump-hotel-raises-conflict-of-interest-questions