What is Mar-a-Lago? Trump’s ‘winter White House’ at the centre of FBI investigation

Mar-a-Lago, a sprawling complex in Florida, has been described as a “the winter White House” during the Trump presidency, a place from which the country’s leader would variously entertain heads of state and order US missile attacks.

The private club – situated on an eight-hectare estate that is now the focus of an FBI search warrant – attracted annual membership fees of $200,000 and became symbolic of Donald Trump’s time in office, blurring the ethical lines between his own business empire and his presidential duties.

Views of Mar a lago estate owned by Donald Trump in Palm Beach. Photograph: chris Bott/Alamy

The centrepiece of the estate, which Trump bought in 1985, is a 126-room mansion complete with expansive verandas and surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns. It was built in 1927 for a cereal heiress and socialite, Marjorie Merriweather Post, who willed it to the US government in 1973. However, neither Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter used it and it was returned to private ownership in 1981.

During his presidency, Trump became renowned for spending significant time at his properties, with his Mar-a-Lago home the most frequented. A Washington Post tally reported he was there for all or part of 142 days of his presidency, over 32 visits.

Donald Trump speaks during a primary night event at Mar-a-Lago in March 2016 after winningthe state of Florida. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

At one point it contained its own makeshift “Situation Room”, from which Donald Trump approved a military strike in 2017 on a Syrian airfield used by Bashar al-Assad’s military to unleash chemical weapons.

Trump negotiated with and entertained Chinese president Xi Jinping and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe there and in 2019, the cast of notable characters to visit Mar-a-Lago included the Chinese former owner of a massage parlour snared in a high-profile prostitution sting, a Russian investor wanted in his home country for tax fraud and a cosmetic dentist who influenced Trump’s thinking on veterans’ care by writing policy advice on a cocktail napkin.

The Trumps welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in 2017. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The use of the property as a de facto presidential court sparked controversy. “The Mar-a-Lago club has turned into a pay-for-access to the president club, with a president with almost no knowledge of governmental policy,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a Washington-based pro-transparency group that criticised Trump for continuing to profit from his business operations while in office.

“If you can whisper in his ear and tell him anything, he may well think it’s sensible and he may well act upon it.”

Donald and Melania Trump entertain Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and wife Akie Abe. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

“When he’s there, it’s a circus,” said Palm Beach society writer Jose Lambiet, who chronicled Trump’s tenure at Mar-a-Lago. “It’s not just the ethics of this, but the visuals are terrible. No policy should be done this way. He thinks it’s cool, that he was elected for this stuff, but I don’t think he was. The ethics of people having access to him through Mar-a-Lago should be investigated because it allows rich people to have access to him in a way that regular people don’t.”

Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, with their son Barron, arrive for a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago club in 2017. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters