PALM BEACH, Fla. The relationship between former president Donald J. Trump and his adopted hometown in Florida has been turbulent from the beginning, with Mr. Trump who is considered by Palm Beach officials as a bull in a porcelain store whose presence they barely tolerate. Things improved somewhat while in the White House, and the city postponed its most famous part-time winter residence.
Now that he was back three weeks as a private citizen, Palm Beach was forced to deal with a question to which he turned cloths while Mr. Trump was in office: may he live full-time on his private maritime? a-Lago club?
The answer seems to be inclined.
When Trump’s second indictment in the U.S. Senate begins, the Palm Beach Town Council met via Zoom to discuss whether Trump violated a 1993 agreement that enabled him to convert his Mar-a-Lago estate from ‘ a private home in a money club.
Advocates for conservationists and some of his neighbors argued that the agreement required Mar-a-Lago to function as a social club in which no one could live.
“This issue threatens to make Mar-a-Lago a permanent beacon for its more rabid, lawless supporters,” Philip C. Johnston, a lawyer for the group called Preserve Palm Beach, said, referring to Mr. Trump.
The city attorney, John C. Randolph, believes that nothing in the agreement Mr. Trump forbids using the property as his residence – if Trump is considered president of the club as an employee of Mar-a-Lago.
“The language in the agreement that governs the use of guest suites for members for a limited period of time does not apply to this situation,” he said. Randolph said.
The city council did not vote. But it was clear that members had no appetite to wage a fight with the former president if he even wanted to live here all year. South Florida shows off in February, but less so in August.
“It does not seem to me that there was a violation,” said Margaret A. Zeidman, the council president.
For a deceptive barrier island whose discretion is known, it was just as if talking about the controversy filled the officials with fear. An earlier agenda item designed the idea of unsightly parking along Worth Avenue, the shopping district with shopping malls. (Valet parking is highly preferred.) What was the last time Trump booked?
“I can only hope that civility, courtesy and partnership will return to the community,” Mayor Gail L. Coniglio said at the start of the meeting.
John B. Marion, an attorney for Mr. Trump, has warned that if he is banned from living in Mar-a-Lago, he could move to one of several other homes he owns in the area, which could create greater security trouble for neighbors. .
Since he last flew out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the morning of January 20, Mr. Trump time playing golf or meeting people in Mar-a-Lago. On Sunday night, he was recorded during the Super Bowl on a video that made an appearance among the guests of the club, wearing a suit, as is almost always the case at the club.
On Tuesday, a masked police officer guarded an entrance to Mar-a-Lago. A few Trump campaign signs remain high on electric poles along the old presidential highway in West Palm Beach.
Mr. Trump’s neighbors would have been more welcome after his presidency if he had not incited his supporters who then stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, says Laurence Leamer, a longtime Palm Beach resident who published a book on Mar-a- Lago wrote.
“The majority of people on the island who voted for him voted for him because they want low taxes and a roaring stock market,” he said. “But with the uprising, people did not want to be with him.”
There are talks about Mar-a-Lago members no longer going to the club and intending to have their membership expired, but ‘no one wants to say that in public,’ ‘he said. Leamer said.
“The charities are not going to come back,” he predicted, referring to organizations that held fundraisers at the club. “It’s not worth the risk, because you know that at least half of your members will not be happy with your choice of location.”
But others in Palm Beach County think there are bigger issues to tackle.
Jennifer McGrath, of Jupiter, sent a letter to the editor to The Palm Beach Daily News during the month criticizing the newspaper for what she considers critical coverage of Trump.
“There are a lot of people who are not angry about the fact that he lives there,” she said. McGrath said in an interview. “It’s ridiculous. He has the right to live wherever he wants to live, wherever he has a home.”
Maggie Haberman reported from New York. Kitty Bennett contributed research.