The U.S. State Department is catching flack for publishing a controversial article appearing to promote President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort club.
The article, titled "Mar-a-Lago: The winter White House," was published April 4 but began making waves Monday as people noticed that the U.S. embassy to the United Kingdom was featuring it, according to the Associated Press.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden took to Twitter Monday afternoon, asking "why are taxpayer dollars promoting the president's private country club?"
The article featured photos of the Palm Beach, Florida club and credited Trump for "preserving Mar-a-Lago's style and taste."
However, it failed to mention that Mar-a-Lago is held in a trust that Trump is the sole beneficiary of or that the resort has doubled its membership fee to $200,000 since he took office.
The post was published on ShareAmerica.gov, which serves as the State Department'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," according to the site.
Officials quickly removed the post in wake of the backlash.
"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 State Department said in a statement replacing the original article.
According to NPR, watchdog group American Oversight plans to file a complaint with the State Department's inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics, arguing that "Section 2635.702 of the Standards of Ethical Conduct prohibits government employees from using their public office to endorse private enterprise."
The group will also encourage Congress to investigate how the article came to be in the first place.
President Barack Obama's former chief ethics attorney Norman Eisen called the article "outrageous" and "more exploitation of public office for Trump's personal gain."
Trump's businesses have been a source of contention since he was elected last November. House Democrats have been calling for him to divest from his new Washington, D.C. hotel for months and a D.C. wine bar recently filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming his hotel has an unfair advantage in attracting customers now that he's in the White House.
[READMORE] READ MORE: Trump's Florida Trips Are Ethical and Logistical Nightmares[/READMORE]
Mar-a-Lago has already seen an enormous spike in attention since Trump became president. He's visited more than half of a dozen times as commander-in-chief, hosting foreign leaders and oftentimes drawing massive crowds.
"This is a privately owned club that for all intents and purposes was just another golf property in Florida before, that almost now is something that Americans immediately recognize. Imagine what you would have to pay to get that kind of brand recognition," George Washington Law School professor Steve Schooner told NBC News. "That's extraordinary."
If competing hotels and resorts in Palm Beach and nearby destinations weren't already concerned about Mar-a-Lago's newfound publicity, an article amounting to free advertising from the State Department must be particularly worrisome.
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