Trump Pitches Golf Course Infomercial From White House, Watchdog Snaps Back

President Donald Trump launched a pitch on Saturday from the White House for one of his private golf courses, triggering an angry reaction from a watchdog group.

Trump touted his controversial Trump Scotland course in Aberdeenshire in a tweet as perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. He even attached a tweet from his own Trump Organization plugging the course. The president also insisted that the course, which he opened in 2012, furthers U.K. relationship!

Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship! https://t.co/3xTzzJH6Iq

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Donald J. Trump","author_url":"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump","cache_age":86400,"description":"Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship! https://t.co/3xTzzJH6Iq Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2019\n\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Donald J. 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Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship! https://t.co/3xTzzJH6Iq
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2019

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington snapped back minutes later: There it is. The president using an official statement as an ad for his business ... and linking his businesses to U.S. relationships with foreign countries.

There it is. The president is using an official statement as an ad for his business and making sure everyone knows he ties his business to US relationships with foreign countries. https://t.co/aKWQwx856g

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There it is. The president is using an official statement as an ad for his business and making sure everyone knows he ties his business to US relationships with foreign countries. https://t.co/aKWQwx856g
Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) March 2, 2019

A White House pitch from a president for one of his many businesses is extraordinary in the history of the U.S. where commanders in chief typically divest from holdings or place them in a blind trust. Trump has done neither.

CREW is suing Trump, citing the Constitutions ban on national leaders using their office for financial gain, among other issues.

CREW adviser and former Office of Government Ethics chief Walter Shaub called the latest tweet Trumps most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date. Its shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering ... [and an] invitation to graft, he added.

This is Trumps most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.

This is the tone from the top that leads his appointees to violate ethics rules.

This is shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering.

This is an invitation to graft. https://t.co/3Gce7RGEYW

Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) March 2, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Walter Shaub","author_url":"https://twitter.com/waltshaub","cache_age":86400,"description":"This is Trumps most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.This is the tone from the top that leads his appointees to violate ethics rules.This is shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering.This is an invitation to graft. https://t.co/3Gce7RGEYW Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) March 2, 2019\n\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Walter Shaub on 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This is Trumps most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.

This is the tone from the top that leads his appointees to violate ethics rules.

This is shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering.

This is an invitation to graft. https://t.co/3Gce7RGEYW
Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) March 2, 2019

Trumps former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified before the House oversight committee Wednesday that Trump never expected to win the presidency, but decided to run to push his brand. Mr. Trump would often say this campaign was going to be the greatest infomercial in political history , he testified. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation, only to market himself and to build his wealth and power.

Another one of Trumps golf courses came up in Cohens questioning that day by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). She cited a Washington Post article about the Trump Organization profiting from a public course in the Bronx constructed with $127 million in city taxpayer funds.

Its not clear Trumps Scottish courses are furthering UK relationships. His two Scottish courses are unpopular with local residents and have been attacked for environmental damage . A review by government conservation agency Scottish Natural Heritage determined that as much as 168 acres were destroyed as a result of Trumps Aberdeenshire course, The Associated Press reported .

Trump promised that the Aberdeenshire course would employ 6,000 people and would pour tax money into Scottish coffers. The course employs 84 people , according to The Washington Post, and that course and another at Turnberry in Ayrshire have paid no taxes because they lose more than $1 million a year, according to financial filings analyzed by Business Insider.

Just weeks after Trump was elected president he harangued British politician and key Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage at a meeting in New York to campaign against an alternative-energy wind farm in Scotland because they ruin the views near his Aberdeenshire course. When I look out of my window and I see these windmills, it offends me , Trump was quoted as saying by a UK official, the BBC reported.

Trump sued the Scottish government over the wind farm and lost. A Scottish court on Thursday ordered Trump to pay the Scottish governments legal costs fighting the suit.

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Trump managed to highlight his Turnberry course after flying with an entourage to the spot after an official visit to Britain last summer. The U.S. government paid the resort $77,000 before he arrived, according to records.