Team News Riveting
A decades-old agreement had put former President Donald Trump living at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at stake after some of the neighbors complained that his stay was illegal.
The Palm Beach officials would formally discuss the issue before taking a final call.
The matter came up before the Palm Beach town council following attorney for neighbors of Trump requesting that the former president should not be allowed to live at the resort, stating it would avoid an “embarrassing situation” in which he had evicted the White House.
They said that a 1993 agreement converting the site from a private residence into a members’ club prevents the former president or anyone else from living there for more than three times a year for up to a week.
The 128-room mansion in Palm Beach was built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1927.
Trump purchased it for $5 million in 1985 and turned it into a private club 10 years later. Now he calls it the “Winter White House.”
John C. Randolph, the town’s attorney, indicated in a memorandum sent last week to the Palm Beach mayor and town council that Trump’s legal right to reside at Mar-A-Lago could hinge on whether Trump is technically employed by the club. Local laws state that “a private club may provide living quarters for its bona fide employees only.”
“This issue, therefore, hinges primarily on whether former President Trump is a bona fide employee of the club,” Randolph said.
Randolph added in the memorandum, dated January 28, that Trump’s neighbors and their attorneys and representatives for Trump should all be able to make presentations at the meeting.
Trump’s attorneys insist the legal case has “no merit” because the 1993 usage agreement for Mar-a-Lago did not state that the owner of the property could not reside there.
In a January 28 letter sent to John C. Randolph, they said that Trump has previously lived at Mar-a-Lago for extended periods without protestation from Palm Beach authorities.
They argued that while the agreement prevents the use of guest suites for more than three non-consecutive weeks a year, Trump uses the Owner’s Suite, which is not subject to the same limits.
They also insist that Trump is an official employee at the club, given his role as club President.
