Palm Beach town attorney says Trump should be able to live at Mar-a-Lago

Palm Beach town attorney John C. Randolph said in a memorandum to council members that former President Trump should be allowed to live at his club Mar-a-Lago. 

The memo, first obtained by The Washington Post, said that an agreement Trump signed in 1993 to change Mar-a-Lago from a private residence to a private club does not prohibit Trump from living there because it “did not incorporate a direct prohibition on former President Trump residing at the club, the language in the agreement pertaining only to the members’ use of guest suites.” 

The agreement Trump signed in 1993 said that guests could not stay at the club for more than 21 days a year. Randolph and Trump’s attorney John B. Marion argued that Trump is an employee of the club, so the agreement doesn’t pertain to him. 

“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.

“President Trump is the president of Mar-a-Lago Club LLC (the legal owner of MAL), and as a corporate officer oversees the property,” Marion said. “He is therefore a bona fide employee within the express terms of the Town’s Zoning Code.”

Trump’s attorney back in 1993 did say that Trump would not live at the club, but it wasn’t specified in the agreement. 

The issue came up following Trump’s election loss, when he was to leave the White House and expected to live at Mar-a-Largo. West Palm Beach lawyer Reginald Stambaugh, representing surrounding neighbors of the club, sent a letter to the council protesting Trump’s move saying he was not allowed per the 1993 agreement. 

The letter states he is in violation of the agreement and presents security concerns to neighbors and that the move devalues neighbors’ property due to it breaking the agreement. 

“Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale and surely he can find one which meets his needs,” the attorney wrote. 

Trump had already changed his residency to Florida from New York during his presidency. The town council will hear Randolph’s case on Feb. 9.