Donald Trump's first visit to Mar-a-Lago as president of the United States took place on the weekend of February 3–6, 2017. On Saturday, he hosted the Diamond Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago Club,
[39] while on Sunday, he watched
Super Bowl LI at
Trump International Golf Club in
West Palm Beach. On the weekend of February 10–12, 2017, President Trump and his wife Melania hosted
Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe and his wife. This was the first use of Mar-a-Lago to entertain an international leader, a task that has traditionally been held in the White House.
[40] On this occasion one of President Trump's first international security crises happened, that of a North Korean missile launch. Trump and Abe conferred in full view of the other diners.
[41]
During the third weekend visit to Mar-a-Lago on February 17–20, President Trump conducted a campaign rally at the
Orlando Melbourne International Airport.
[42] He also conducted interviews for a replacement
National Security Advisor and named General
H. R. McMaster as Flynn's successor on February 20, 2017.
[43]
After President Trump's fourth weekend visit on March 3–5, 2017, questions were raised about the access his paying club members have to him and his entourage. A number of Democratic senators asked the President to release visitor logs of Mar-a-Lago and as well as a list of the members of the private club.
[44] Subsequently, the "Mar-a-Lago Act" was introduced, legislation requiring publication of logs of visitors at the White House and other places where the president conducts business.
[45] After a lawsuit was filed, a judge ordered, in July 2017, that these logs be released in September.
[46]
President Trump's fifth presidential visit took place on March 17–18. Guests included Melania's parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs.[
citation needed]
During his next visit April 6–9, President Trump hosted the
Chinese leader Xi Jinpingfor the first two days.
[47][48][49] At Mar-a-Lago, the decision
to strike a Syrian airfieldwas made.
[49] The following Easter weekend was also spent with family members at Mar-a-Lago.
[50]
On April 4, 2017, prior to President Xi's visit,
ShareAmerica, a website run by the
U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs, published a blog post describing Mar-a-Lago's history.
[51] On April 5, 2017, the U.S. embassy in the United Kingdom's website shared snippets of the original blog post on its own blog, and the U.S. embassy in
Albania's Facebook page shared the original post.
[52][53] On April 24, 2017, Democratic senator
Ron Wyden, House minority leader
Nancy Pelosi, and ethics observers like former ambassador
Norman Eisen, questioned the use of official government resources promoting a private property owned by Trump.
[54][55][56][57] By April 25, 2017, ShareAmerica and both U.S. embassies in the United Kingdom
and Albaniaremoved their respective posts. ShareAmerica, replaced their post with the following statement, "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."
[51]
With the seasonal closing of Mar-a-Lago by May 14 ahead of the
Atlantic hurricane season, Trump uses
Trump National Golf Clubin
Bedminster, New Jersey, as his preferred retreat location during the summer months (calling it his "
Summer White House").
[58]
In November 2017, President Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago for his first presidential Thanksgiving celebration,
[59] and one month later he returned for his tenth presidential visit during his Christmas vacation.
[60]
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