Reporters alarmed by State Department’s blog post on Mar-a-Lago history

The State Department’s “Share America” website published a page with historical information about Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort and members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla.

The web page doesn’t contain much information about Mar-a-Lago outside of its history — it was built in the 1920s by an heiress — and that Trump has used the resort to entertain world leaders. And though the page was posted in early April, reporters only took notice on Monday after a former aide to Democrat Hillary Clinton shared it on Twitter.

“Um wow: This is something else,” Time magazine reporter Zeke Miller said on Twitter. “Ad content produced by the State Department.”

Cameron Joseph of the New York Daily News called the web page “free advertising” for the resort, which Trump has owned since the 1980s and which he has visited several times since the election.

“The U.S. government is now openly promoting the president’s PRIVATE, FOR-PROFIT resort,” Huffington Post reporter Shirish Dáte wrote on Twitter.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also indicated an interest in why the State Department would write up the resort. “Yes, I am curious @StateDept. Why are taxpayer $$ promoting the President’s private country club?” he asked on Twitter.

The writeup of Mar-a-Lago said the resort has been used to host foreign leaders, and has also been Trump’s getaway destination of choice.

While Mar-a-Lago had been turned over to the U.S. government as a winter getaway for presidents during the 1970s, it was never used, and Trump was able to buy the club in 1985.

Since taking office, Trump has hosted Japanese President Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. He ordered 59 Tomahawk missiles to strike an air base in Syria from the resort earlier this month.