Trump Residency at Mar-a-Lago Backed by Palm Beach Town Attorney
Set ‘em up and knock ‘em down. [EpochTimes] The town attorney for Palm Beach, Florida, said in a memo this week that Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
can continue to live full time at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
John Randolph said in the document that Trump can be considered a bona fide employee of the resort; employees are defined in the town’s code as including business owners and partners.
"If he is a bona fide employee of the club, absent a specific restriction prohibiting former President Trump from residing at the club, it appears the Zoning Code permits him to reside at the club," Randolph wrote.
The memo was obtained by news outlets and published by NPR.
Trump turned Mar-a-Lago into a private club in 1993. During a Town Council meeting that year, Trump’s attorney at the time said that Trump wouldn’t "continue to live" on the property, "except that he will be a member of the club and would be entitled to use the guest rooms."
Some have suggested the statement means Trump may only use the club as a member. Members are barred from residing at Mar-a-Lago for more than three non-consecutive seven-day periods per year.
But the final rules dictating the use of Mar-a-Lago didn’t include a direct prohibition on Trump residing there, Randolph said in his memo, prompting the need for the town to review its zoning code.
Trump lawyer John Marion said in a letter to the town last month that Trump "has the right to reside there."
"Importantly, while the town could have specifically provided in the agreement that the owner could not reside on the property, it did not," he wrote.
Since Trump lived at Mar-a-Lago prior to its conversion to a club, his residency was grandfathered in, his attorney suggested. Trump is, under the town’s zoning, a bona fide employee, his representatives believe.
Posted by: trailing wife 2021-02-05 |