A New Year’s party raged at Mar-a-Lago. Florida rep. wants Trump’s resort fined, shut down
It was party time at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on New Year’s as videos show a large, maskless crowd. Florida Rep. Omari Hardy is not happy and is calling for a shutdown of the entire resort.
On Friday, Hardy sent an email to Todd Bonlarron, an assistant county administrator of Palm Beach County, regarding a video on social media showing maskless partygoers at Mar-a-Lago. Hardy represents Florida District 88 in the state House of Representatives.
Hardy had tweeted two videos showing the New Year’s party. On one, he commented, “My constituents live here. This is their home, and they’re going to have to deal with the consequences of a potential super-spreader party at Mar-a-Lago long after Junior [Donald J. Trump Jr.] and wife leave here on their private jet.”
My constituents are not snowbirds like @DonaldJTrumpJr & @kimguilfoyle. My constituents live here. This is their home, and they're going to have to deal w/ the consequences of a potential super-spreader party at Mar-a-Lago long after Junior & wife leave here on their private jet. pic.twitter.com/kt6SXErYG2
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) January 2, 2021
In his letter to Bonlarron, Hardy is asking for fines and that a possible shutdown be applied to the resort just like what would occur for other businesses that violate Palm Beach’s mask mandate.
“Mar-a-Lago is a club. A club is a business. Businesses must comply with Palm Beach County’s mask order,” Hardy said. “I recognize that the President is a powerful person and that his business, Mar-a-Lago, is a daunting target for enforcement, but the law is the law.”
.@DWUhlfelderLaw, I just sent the attached email to our Assistant County Administrator. We can't have a mandate that we enforce on all business owners except for the President. Fairness dictates that we treat the President and his business just as we would treat anyone else. pic.twitter.com/CTQkwYZKE2
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) January 2, 2021
Miami-Dade County also had its own brush with a possible super-spreader event during the New Year’s holiday.
On Thursday night, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hosted an indoor concert by the rapper Nelly. According to seating charts the concert could have brought about 800 people to the hotel.
Miami Beach city officials denied the hotel’s application for a special event permit to host the publicly advertised concert in the outdoors area of its property. So the hotel moved the party indoors. City Manager Raul Aguila said because the event is private and indoors, the hotel was not required to follow local COVID laws.
