US State Dept. Now Promoting Trump’s Privately-Owned Florida Estate and Golf Course, Mar-a-Lago

Official State Dept. Twitter and Facebook Accounts Also Promoting Mar-a-Lago

Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s personal, privately-owned estate, members-only club, spa, and golf course, is now being promoted by the U.S. Dept. Of State on at least two federally-owned websites. One, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in The United Kingdom. The other, an arm of the U.S. State Dept. called ShareAmerica, which says it is “the U.S. Department of State’s platform for sharing compelling stories and images that spark discussion and debate on important topics like democracy, freedom of expression, innovation, entrepreneurship, education, and the role of civil society.”

Both websites are hosting an article titled, “Mar-a-Lago: The winter White House,” dated April 4. 

“Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Florida estate, has become well known as the president frequently travels there to work or host foreign leaders,” the article begins. “The first meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping of China will take place April 6–7 at Mar-a-Lago, which is located at the heart of Florida’s Palm Beach community.”

It even includes a tweet from President Trump, a photo of him sitting at the receptionist’s desk pretending to write his inaugural address.

At least one official U.S. State Dept. Branch has promoted the article on Twitter and Facebook (above):

The article goes on to call Trump “a real-estate magnate” and noting he purchased the property in 1985, and “opened the estate to dues-paying members of the public in 1995 as the Mar-a-Lago Club.”

There’s no reason for Mar-a-Lago to be promoted by the U.S. Dept. of State.  

A quick search via Google and via the State Department did not find the article on other State Dept. websites for countries other than the U.K.

After Trump won the 2016 presidential election, he doubled the annual membership fees for Mar-a-Lago, to $200,000.

The article also uses copyrighted images from both the AP and Getty. It’s unknown if permission was granted for use. If not, the federal government could be sued for possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars or more for copyright violation.

The article has not gone unnoticed on Twitter:

UPDATE I:
CNN’s Jake Tapper has since covered the story – video:

UPDATE II:
After publication, NCRM sent an email to the State Dept. requesting answers to questions, including who directed the writing and publication of the article, did anyone check to see if there are any conflicts of interest, and will the State Dept. continue to promote and advertise Trump properties. We’ll update readers when we receive answers.

UPDATE III:
US Embassy in Albania (Tirana) has posted the article to Facebook:

 

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Image by Wally Gobetz via Flickr and a CC license