- A Trump lawyer clashed with neighbors on Monday over whether the former president could live in Mar-a-Lago.
- Neighbors say it cannot be considered a residence and he should not be living there.
- Trump’s lawyer threatened further chaos if he moved to an adjacent property.
- Visit the Insider Business section for more stories.
While the U.S. Senate was considering whether to convict Donald Trump on charges of impeachment in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, another body of elected officials met to determine the fate of the former president hundreds of miles away.
Senior officials in Palm Beach, Florida, met in Zoom to determine whether Trump will be allowed to continue to live in Mar-a-Lago, the exclusive member club he bought in 1985, where he moved after his presidential term ended. in January.
Since Trump moved his legal residence from New York to Florida in 2019 (Florida has lower taxes), his neighbors openly fear that he will move there. Some of the neighbors tried to prevent the city of Palm Beach from allowing him to use Mar-a-Lago as his permanent residence, citing an agreement signed by Trump in 1993, and evicting him.
The deal, as Insider’s Thomas Colson reported, transformed it from a private clubhouse to a residence and prohibits guests from staying there for more than “three non-consecutive seven-day periods” a year.
Mar-a-Lago can be a club or a residence, they argue, but it cannot be both.
‘The Mayor of Mar-a-Lago’
On Monday, at a meeting at Zoom, Maggie Zeidman, president of Palm Beach City Council, said the governing body would make a decision on the matter in April. She also said that she personally believed that Trump should continue to reside in Mar-a-Lago.
But at the request of city administrator Kirk Blouin – who said he received “hundreds of emails a day” on the subject – the city’s attorney, John “Skip” Randolph made a presentation on the legality of the matter. The board also gave a lawyer representing Trump a chance to respond, as well as lawyers representing Trump’s neighbors and a group called Preserve Palm Beach.
U.S. President Donald Trump awaits the arrival of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for talks at the Trump resort in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on April 17, 2018.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
According to Randolph, the 1993 agreement allows “bona fide employees” to use Mar-a-Lago as “quarters”. The question, then, is whether Trump is a Mar-a-Lago employee. The guest restriction, he said, does not apply.
Read More: Trump is planning a revenge campaign for Republican defectors after the Senate impeachment trial
Trump’s lawyer at the hearing, John Marion, said the former president is in fact an employee. He said Trump is involved in the club’s finances, evaluates employee performance and oversees ownership in other ways.
“This guy wanders around the property as the mayor of the city of Mar-a-Lago,” said Marion of Trump. “He’s always there and he loves it there, and he loves the people he sees there.”
He also pointed out that Trump has stayed at Mar-a-Lago for the past 22 years for longer periods than described in the “guest” restrictions previously.
“This debate, I think, is silly,” said Marion.
‘A permanent beacon for your most angry and lawless supporters’
Philip Johnson, the lawyer representing Preserve Palm Beach, said he feared that Trump’s home could welcome some of his most unpleasant supporters.
“We feel that this issue threatens to make Mar-a-Lago a permanent beacon for its most angry and lawless supporters,” said Johnson.
He also said that giving Trump the power to determine who counts and who does not count as a Mar-a-Lago employee was irrational and would effectively allow him to create his own zoning laws.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump await his return to Florida along the route that leads to his Mar-a-Lago estate on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Michael Reaves / Getty Images
“If officers at Mar-A-Lago LLC are allowed to reside in the club, then there is no limitation on how many residents can live there, as the club controls the number of officers,” said Johnson. “In other words, the city could not limit the number of residents. Does the council want more eligibility to be a multi-family home?”
Reginald Stambaugh, the lawyer representing Trump’s neighbors, said the city of Palm Beach has repeatedly violated the resolution over the decades, not allowing its clients to “peacefully enjoy the privacy offered to others on the island.”
“My clients bought their homes after the agreement was signed with a reasonable expectation that this legal contract would be honored and enforced by the city,” he said.
‘A horrible imposition’
Marion was sympathetic to neighbors’ concerns, recognizing that there were “more than 100” Secret Service agents in the area while Trump was president, as well as police, barriers and blocked roads that represented “an imposition on neighbors” on Woodbridge Road .
But, said Marion, things have improved.
“The Secret Service is now limited to about 10 people,” he said. “On Sunday night, a week ago, all the Secret Service people who were outside and around the property were gone. The barriers were removed. Things have changed. And I think it will continue that way.”
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leave Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on their way to the Mar-a-Lago Club on January 20, 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Noam Galai / Getty Images
Some of Trump’s neighbors suggested that he simply move to one of his other three properties near Mar-a-Lago, including a large property on Woodbridge Road.
Marion told them to be careful what they wanted.
“If former President Trump had to move to Woodbridge for some reason, there would be barriers in front of that property,” he said. “There would be guards and Secret Service personnel on the front of that road. There would be dogs sniffing the vehicles and checking the vehicles every time a resident of Woodbridge went home or left, or his guests came or went.”
“It would be a horrible imposition for them if they got what they wanted,” he added.