Charities pull out of Mar-a-Lago events

Groups change minds after Trump’s comments

FORT LAUDERDALE ( Florida): US President Donald Trump’s comments about the white nationalist rally last weekend are hurting not just his political standing but his pocketbook.

Three charities announced on Thursday that they were cancelling fundraisers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, a sign the president’s business is starting to suffer backlash from his comments on Tuesday about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Cleveland Clinic said in a statement that it decided not to hold its annual event at his Palm Beach resort after “careful consideration” of a number of issues. It didn’t elaborate, but the Ohio-based hospital was already under pressure to shift venues.

Doctors, nurses and medical students of the hospital had signed a public letter earlier this year objecting to Mar-a-Lago given President Trump’s plans to cut funding of medical research and other policies.

The Cleveland Clinic has held its annual fundraiser at the resort for eight years.

A few hours after the hospital pulled out, the American Cancer Society said it also planned to shift the venue of its annual fundraiser, called the 2018 Island of Palm Beach gala.

“Our values and commitment to diversity are critical as we work to address the impact of cancer in every community,” spokesman Miriam Falco said in statement. “It has become increasingly clear that the challenge to those values is outweighing other business considerations.”

Falco declined to elaborate.

Late Thursday, the American Friends of Magen David Adom announced it had decid-

Our values and commitment to diversity are critical as we work to address the impact of cancer in every community.

Miriam Falco

ed not to hold its 2018 fundraiser at Mar-aLago. The group, which raises money for an ambulance service in Israel, has been holding its annual gala at the resort since 2012.

Its spokesman, Erik Levis, gave no reason but said the decision came after “considerable deliberation”. His statement noted the organisation is “apolitical”.

The Trump Organisation did not respond to requests for comment. The managing director of Trump’s properties in Florida, Bernd Lembcke, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, either.

The president has drawn widespread and bipartisan criticism for his comments at a Trump Tower news conference where he insisted that “both sides” were to blame for violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville where a counterprotester was killed. The president dissolved two business councils after members who are CEOs began quitting.

Palm Beach town records showed that 21 charities held events at Mar-a-Lago between last November and April, during the active social season.