{"id":11395,"date":"2017-04-24T13:19:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T21:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/state-department-removes-webpage-featuring-trumps-for-profit-club-mar-a-lago\/"},"modified":"2017-04-24T13:19:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T21:19:00","slug":"state-department-removes-webpage-featuring-trumps-for-profit-club-mar-a-lago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/state-department-removes-webpage-featuring-trumps-for-profit-club-mar-a-lago\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department Removes Webpage Featuring Trump's For-Profit Club, Mar-A-Lago"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Marilyn Geewax<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n ShareAmerica.gov, a State Department website, shared an article promoting Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s golf club and resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The page has since been removed.<\/p>\n


\n Share America\/Screenshot by NPR
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\n Share America\/Screenshot by NPR
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Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

An article on a State Department website about President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort has been removed after criticism that it was an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n

Critics complained that resources were being used to tout the for-profit club, which Trump refers to as the Winter White House. The club, in Palm Beach, Fla., is held in Trump’s trust, of which he is the sole beneficiary.<\/p>\n

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“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,” a State Department official said in a statement that has now replaced the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ShareAmerica website says<\/a> it “is part of the Bureau of International Information Programs<\/a>, which works with U.S. embassies and consulates in more than 140 countries to engage with people around the globe on U.S. foreign policy and American society.”<\/p>\n

But on the webpage about Mar-a-Lago, there was no discussion of policy. The page showed photos of the members-only club’s opulent rooms and exterior, and noted that “When he acquired the house, Trump also bought the decorations and furnishings that [original owner Marjorie Merriweather] Post had collected over the years, preserving Mar-a-Lago’s style and taste.”<\/p>\n

The website generated attention Monday when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and others started tweeting about it. In one tweet, Wyden said: “Yes, I am curious @StateDept<\/a>. Why are taxpayer $$ promoting the President’s private country club?”<\/p>\n

In another tweet, he steered people to the webpage, saying: “Here’s the full post in its kleptocratic glory.”<\/p>\n

American Oversight, a watchdog group that includes some lawyers who worked at agencies in the Obama administration, said earlier Monday it would file a complaint with the State Department’s inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics. The group says that “promoting Mar-a-Lago appears to violate Section 2635.702 of the Standards of Ethical Conduct, which prohibits government employees from using their public office to endorse private enterprise.”<\/p>\n

American Oversight also had said it would ask congressional oversight committees to conduct an “investigation into how and why the article promoting Trump properties was written and distributed.”<\/p>\n