The State Department on Monday removed a blog post promoting President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida following criticism from ethics advocates and Democrats, and questions from reporters.
The post boasting Mar-A-Lago as the “Winter White House” was posted to the State Department’s ShareAmerica website and had also been posted by the U.S. embassies in the United Kingdom and Albania, according to Politico. The post has been removed from all three of those locations. The link on the ShareAmerica website now shows a message apologizing for the post.
“The intention of the article was to inform the public about where the President has been hosting world leaders. We regret any misperception and have removed the post,” the message reads.
The post was published on April 4 and included pictures of the estate and descriptions of the club’s design and architecture, per the Huffington Post.
Norm Eisen, the chairman of the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Democratic lawmakers criticized the blog post on Twitter on Monday.
violations of 5 CFR 2635.702 have gone viral thruout our embassies. trump gutting foreign aid to convert embassies 2 trump promo outlets! https://t.co/pgY0UjpJY0
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) April 24, 2017
.@StateDept Here’s the full post in its kleptocratic glory: https://t.co/w6fd0One2E
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 24, 2017
Why is @realDonaldTrump’s State Dept promoting the President’s private club? #Trump100Days https://t.co/T0YmCzeDhD
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 24, 2017
When asked about the blog post by reporters on Monday, Mark Toner, the acting spokesperson for the State Department said he was unaware of the post, according to CNN.
Trump has hosted several foreign leaders at his Mar-A-Lago club, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and has also spent several weekends there.
