Trump lawyer clashes with neighbors over Trump living in Mar-a-Lago

• On Monday, a Trump lawyer clashed with neighbors over whether the former president could live in Mar-a-Lago.
• Neighbors say it can’t be considered a residence and he shouldn’t live there.
• Trump’s lawyer threatened more chaos if he moved to an adjacent property.
• Visit Insider’s Business section for more stories.

As the US Senate debated whether to convict Donald Trump of impeachment in Washington, DC on Tuesday, another body of elected officials gathered to determine the fate of the former president hundreds of miles away. the.

Senior officials from Palm Beach, Florida met on Zoom to determine whether Trump will be allowed to continue living at Mar-a-Lago, the members-only club he bought in 1985, where he moved after the end of his presidential term in January.

Ever since Trump changed his legal residence from New York to Florida in 2019 (Florida has lower taxes), his neighbors have openly feared him moving there. Some of the neighbors tried to prevent the city of Palm Beach from allowing him to use Mar-a-Lago as a permanent residence, citing an agreement signed by Trump in 1993, and to deport him.

The deal, as Insider’s Thomas Colson reported, turned it from a residence to a private club and prohibits guests from staying there for more than “three non-consecutive seven-day periods” per year.

Mar-a-Lago can be a club or a residence, they say, but it can’t be both.

‘The mayor of Mar-a-Lago’

Meeting in Zoom on Monday, Maggie Zeidman, president of the Palm Beach City Council, said the governing body would make a decision on the matter in April. She also said she personally believes Trump should be able to continue to reside in Mar-a-Lago.

But at the urging of city manager Kirk Blouin – who said he receives “hundreds of emails a day” on the matter – city attorney John “Skip” Randolph held a presentation on the legality of the case. The council also gave an attorney representing Trump a chance to respond, as well as attorneys representing Trump’s neighbors and a group called Preserve Palm Beach.

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According to Randolph, the 1993 agreement allows “good faith employees” to use Mar-a-Lago as “living quarters”. The question, then, is whether Trump is an employee of Mar-a-Lago. The restriction on guests, he says, does not apply.

Read more: Trump plans revenge campaign tour targeting GOP deserters after Senate impeachment trial

Trump’s attorney at the hearing, John Marion, said the former president was indeed an employee. He said Trump was involved in the club’s finances, evaluating employee performance and overseeing property in another way.

“This guy, he roams the property like the mayor of the town of Mar-a-Lago,” Marion said 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 had remained in Mar-a-Lago, for the past 22 years, for longer periods than previously described in the restrictions on “guests.”

“This debate, I think, is silly,” Marion said.

“ A permanent beacon for its most rabid and lawless supporters ”

Philip Johnson, the attorney representing Preserve Palm Beach, said he feared Trump’s residence could accommodate some of his more disreputable supporters.

“We believe this issue threatens to make Mar-a-Lago a permanent beacon for its more rabid and lawless supporters,” Johnson said.

He also said that giving Trump the power to determine who counts and who doesn’t count as a Mar-a-Lago employee was irrational and that it would effectively allow him to create his own zoning laws.

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“If the officers of Mar-A-Lago LLC are allowed to reside at the club, then there is no limit to the number of residents who can live there since the club controls the number of officers,” Johnson said. . “In other words, the city couldn’t limit the number of residents. Does the council want more eligibility to be a multi-family residence?”

Reginald Stambaugh, the attorney representing Trump’s neighbors, said the city of Palm Beach has repeatedly violated the resolution over the decades, failing to allow its clients to “peacefully enjoy the privacy of others on the island “.

“My clients bought their homes after signing the agreement with a reasonable expectation that this legal contract would be honored and enforced by the city,” he said.

‘A horrible imposition’

Marion appeared sympathetic to neighbors’ concerns, acknowledging that there were “over 100” Secret Service agents at a time in the area while Trump was president, in addition to sheriff’s officers, barriers, and blocked roads that amounted to “a neighbor’s tax” on Woodbridge Road.

But, says Marion, things have improved.

“The secret service is now limited to around 10 people,” he said. “Since Sunday evening a week ago, all the members of the secret service who had come out and around the property have left. The barriers have been removed. Things have changed. And I think it’s going to stay that way.

Noam Galai / Getty Images

Some of Trump’s neighbors have suggested he simply move to one of his other three properties near Mar-a-Lago, including a large estate on Woodbridge Road.

Marion told them to be careful what they wanted.

“If former President Trump were to move to Woodbridge for any reason, there would be gates in the front of this property,” he said. “There would be guards and secret service personnel in front of this road. There were dogs sniffing the vehicles and checking in the vehicles every time a Woodbridge resident came home or left, or their guests came or went.

“It would be a horrible tax on them if they got what they wanted,” he added.