Eric Trump defends President s golf trips

Washington April 18 (IANS) Eric Trump defended his father Donald Trumps frequent rounds of golf saying the sport is a tool for the US President to conduct diplomacy the media reported.

You can sit with somebody in a golf cart where there might be cultural differences and language barriers and have a good time and build a friendship in a way that you could never do sitting across an office table from someone President Donald Trump s second son told the Irish Independent daily on Monday when asked about the estimated 16 rounds his father has played since his January 20 inauguration.

Eric Trump dubbed the Presidnet s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida my father s Crawford Texas in reference to former President George W. Bush s ranch Politico news reported.

Mar-a-Lago is an amazing estate that has been a very effective tool for (my father) to go down and get to know somebody while not sitting ... across a wooden partition which instantly makes a relationship more strenuous Eric Trump said.

Since assuming the presidency Donald Trump has hosted world leaders including Japan s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China s President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago.

The weekends in Florida have attracted criticism from opponents who say he is spending too much time on the golf course and spending too much taxpayers money to do it.

--IANS
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