Trump rings in new year at Mar-a-Lago with club members, political allies

Former President Trump’s annual New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago was packed this year, with the guests reportedly including hundreds of the club’s members and Trump political allies.

Among the attendees were MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and the former president’s onetime attorney Rudy Giuliani. Eric Trump and wife Lara were also in attendance, as well as Melania Trump, according to The Palm Beach Post. But several other family members appeared notably absent, including Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.

Giuliani tweeted multiple videos from the event, including one in which Trump gives the former New York City mayor a shout-out, saying “Rudy Giuliani, the greatest mayor in the history of New York, and couldn’t we use him now, right? Thank you, Rudy!”

None of the high-profile figures who attended said anything about Trump or their expectations for 2023 as they walked the event’s red carpet, The Palm Beach Post reported.

The former president, who announced his 2024 presidential run in November, spoke briefly with the media, reiterating some of his key policy concerns while avoiding certain questions.

“We need a strong border and we need it now,” he said, according to The Palm Beach Post. He later added, “We also have to bring back the economy … with inflation destroying our country.”

But Trump reportedly evaded reporters’ questions about whether he would support banning abortion nationwide and a request for a probe into COVID-19 vaccines made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), long seen as the former president’s most formidable potential challenger for the 2024 GOP nomination, earlier this month.

When asked about this week’s second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the former president walked away, according to The Palm Beach Post.

The party comes after the House committee investigating the insurrection last month released its final report, in which it concluded that Trump was the “central cause” of that day’s events, and unveiled four criminal referrals against the former president. The committee recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate Trump for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding.

In addition to its own probe into Jan. 6, the DOJ is also conducting an investigation into the potential mishandling of government documents at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI conducted a raid of the property in August during which it said it recovered more than one hundred classified records.

Trump slammed the FBI while speaking to a reporter at the party, according to Newsweek, saying, “I think it’s a disgrace what’s happening with the FBI and with the weaponization of justice. There’s never been anything like this and it is disgraceful.”