The Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit health care network, announced on Thursday that it no longer plans to hold a 2018 fundraising gala at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s exclusive Palm Beach, Florida club.
“After careful consideration, Cleveland Clinic has decided that it will not hold a Florida fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in 2018. We thank the staff of Mar-a-Lago for their service over the years,” the clinic said in a statement.
The clinic would not elaborate on the reasoning behind pulling the fundraiser from Mar-a-Lago, but the decision comes in the wake of Trump’s failure to deliver a full-throated condemnation of white supremacists in the immediate wake of a car attack at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The clinic’s CEO, Toby Cosgrove, was a member of Trump’s business advisory council called the Strategic and Policy Forum, which disbanded on Wednesday. That panel, as well as the White House’s manufacturing council, was dissolved after several CEOs criticized Trump’s response to the Charlottesville attack and made moves to leave the jobs panels.
Once a top destination for fancy charity fundraisers in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago has taken a hit since Trump’s election when it comes to booking those types of events, as the Washington Post reported back in June. Although the resort appears to be flourishing otherwise, several charities have decided against holding large banquets at the club, citing the burden of increased security there.
