US Embassy in London Criticized for Promoting Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Resort
The US embassy in London has been criticized by Democrats for a blog post on its website about President Donald Trump’s luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The blog post, published on April 5, details the history of the 114-room mansion, which is often described as Donald Trump’s “winter White House”.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden accused the state department of promoting President Trump’s “private club”.
The department has issued no comment.
In her tweet, Nancy Pelosi wrote: “Why is @realDonaldTrump’s State Dept promoting the President’s private club? #Trump100Days.”
Meanwhile, Senator Ron Wyden wrote: “Yes, I am curious @StateDept. Why are taxpayer $$ promoting the President’s private country club?”
Image source Wikimedia
State department spokesman Mark Toner was not aware of the post when the issue was raised by the media on April 24, CNN reports.
The blog post says that “Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Florida estate, has become well known as the president frequently travels there to work or host foreign leaders”.
Donald Trump has hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at the resort.
The post also states that Donald Trump “is not the first president to have access to Mar-a-Lago as a Florida retreat, but he is the first one to use it.
“By visiting this <<winter White House>>, Trump is belatedly fulfilling the dream of Mar-a-Lago’s original owner and designer.”
Since taking office, Donald Trump has spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago, which he bought in 1985 and turned into a private members club.
The president’s visits have led to concerns over costs and mixing business with politics.
The club has raised its initiation fees from $100,000 to $200,000 following Donald Trump’s election.
Since President Trump’s inauguration, Democratic groups and ethics watchdogs have been monitoring whether there has been a potential conflict of interest that could benefit his business holdings while he is in office.
In December, Donald Trump announced that he planned to shut his charitable foundation, although an investigation into its practices continues.