- A Trump lawyer clashed with neighbors on Monday over whether the former president could live on Mar-a-Lago.
- Neighbors say it can not be considered a home and he should not live there.
- Trump’s lawyer threatened more chaos if he moved to an adjacent property.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
While the U.S. Senate on Tuesday considered convicting Donald Trump on a charge of indictment in Washington, DC, another body of elected officials sat down to determine the fate of the former president hundreds of miles away.
Top officials in Palm Beach, Florida, met on Zoom to determine whether Trump would be allowed to continue living in Mar-a-Lago, the only club he bought in 1985, where he moved after his presidential term ended in January.
Since Trump changed his legal residence from New York to Florida in 2019 (Florida has lower taxes), his neighbors have openly feared him going there. Some of the neighbors tried to stop the city of Palm Beach from allowing him to use Mar-a-Lago as his permanent residence, citing a 1993 agreement that Trump signed and evicted.
The agreement, as Thomas Colson of Insider reported, converted it from a residence to a private club and prohibited guests from staying there for more than “three non-consecutive seven-day periods” per year.
Mar-a-Lago could be a club or a residence, they argue, but it could not be both.
‘The Mayor of Mar-a-Lago’
Maggie Zeidman, president of Palm Beach Town Council, met at Zoom on Monday and said the governing body would decide on the issue in April. She also said she personally believes Trump should be able to continue living in Mar-a-Lago.
But at the urging of city manager Kirk Blouin – who said he receives “hundreds of emails a day” on the issue – city attorney John ‘Skip’ Randolph made a presentation on the legality of the case. The council also gave a Trump attorney a chance to respond, as well as attorneys representing Trump’s neighbors and a group called Preserve Palm Beach.
US President Donald Trump is awaiting the arrival of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort 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 “living quarters”. The question, then, is whether Trump is a Mar-a-Lago employee. According to him, the restriction on guests does not apply.
Read more: Trump plans a revenge campaign for GOP defectors campaign after Senate accusation
Trump’s lawyer during the trial, John Marion, said the former president is indeed an employee. He said Trump is involved in the club’s finances, evaluating employee performance and overseeing the property in other ways.
“This man, he wanders through the property like the mayor of the city of Mar-a-Lago,” Marion said of Trump. “He’s always present and he loves it, and he loves the people he sees there.”
He also pointed out that Trump has lived in Mar-a-Lago longer for the past 22 years than previously described under the “gas” restrictions.
“I think this debate is silly,” Marion said.
‘A permanent beacon for his more rabid, lawless supporters’
Philip Johnson, the lawyer representing Preserve Palm Beach, said he was concerned that Trump’s right of abode could be welcomed by his more distasteful supporters.
“We feel this issue threatens to make Mar-a-Lago a permanent beacon for its more rabid, lawless supporters,” Johnson said.
He also said that it was irrational for Trump to give Trump the power to determine who does and does not count as a Mar-a-Lago employee, and that it would enable him to enact his own zoning laws. set.
Supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump are awaiting his return to Florida on the route leading to his Mar-a-Lago estate on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Michael Reaves / Getty Images
“If Mar-A-Lago LLC officers are allowed to live at the club, there is no limit to how many residents will be able to live there, as the club controls the number of officers,” Johnson said. “In other words, the city could not limit the number of residents. Does the council want to be more eligible to be a multi-family residence?”
Reginald Stambaugh, the lawyer representing Trump’s neighbors, said the city of Palm Beach had violated the resolution over the decades and did not allow its clients to “enjoy the privacy of others on the island peacefully.”
“My clients bought their homes after the agreement was signed with a reasonable expectation that this legal contract would be complied with and enforced by the city,” he said.
‘A horrible imposition’
Marion was sympathetic to the neighbors ‘concerns and acknowledged that there were “more than 100” secret service agents in the area while Trump was president, in addition to sheriff’s officers, roadblocks and roadblocks that amounted to a neighbors’ imposition on Woodbridge Road .
But, Marion said, things got better.
“The secret service is now limited to about ten people,” he said. “As of Sunday night a week ago, all the secret service personnel who were outside the area are gone. The barriers have been removed. Things have changed. And I think it’s going to stay that way.”
Retiring US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leave Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport en route to Mar-a-Lago Club on January 20, 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Noam Galai / Getty Images
Some of Trump’s neighbors suggested he simply move to one of his three other properties near Mar-a-Lago, including one large estate on Woodbridge Road.
Marion told them to be careful what they wished for.
“If former President Trump had to move to Woodbridge for some reason, there would be obstacles in front of the property,” he said. “There will be guards and secret service staff in front of that lane. There will be dogs sniffing the vehicles and inspecting the vehicles every time a resident on Woodbridge goes home or leaves, or their guests come or go.”
“It would be a horrible imposition on them if they got what they wanted,” he added.