A Florida lawmaker wants Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort shut down over a violation of COVID-19 rules. According to PEOPLE, state Rep. Omari Hardy (Dem.) issued a letter to Palm County officials, arguing that the club violated the county’s mask mandate, as evident in video of a New Year’s party that took place there. “Mar-a-Lago is a club. A club is a business. Businesses must comply with Palm Beach County’s mask order,” Hardy wrote in the latter.
Hardy serves as the representative for a district that includes parts of Palm County, believes that all businesses of the county should be held accountable equally. “It is common knowledge that the President hosts a New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago every year. I wonder why the County was not prepared to enforce its mask mandate at the New Year’s Eve celebration hosted at Mar-a-Lago last night,” he wrote. “This event has the potential to be a super-spreader event. We cannot allow businesses and business owners to openly flout our mask order.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
We’re one step closer to shutting down Mar-a-Lago.
This was an egregious violation of our mask order. Hundreds of People. Indoors. No Masks. It’s a public health catastrophe waiting to happen.
No business should get away with this. #ShutDownMarALagohttps://t.co/d4aadhLOCx
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) January 5, 2021
In a video of the NYE party, many attendees — including Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle — could be seen dancing and partying maskless, while ’90s rapper Vanilla Ice performed on-stage. Notably, both Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle previously tested positive for coronavirus, and had to quarantine. In his letter to the county, Hardy stated that he grew very worried for the Mar-a-Lago staff when he saw the footage that was shared on social media.
“When I saw that video, I thought about the staff working at Mar-a-Lago I thought about their families,” Hardy wrote. “I thought about the teachers who might be teaching the staff’s children when school reopens after Winter Break. I thought about the folks they might encounter at the grocery store or at the pharmacy.”
Mar-a-Lago is a club. A club is a business. Businesses must abide by Palm Beach County’s mask order, or be fined or even shut down. We knew that Trump was hosting a New Year’s party. I’ll be reaching out to folks at @pbcgov to ask why we weren’t ready to enforce the mandate here. https://t.co/2HtJEXiBcE
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) January 1, 2021
In response, an official with Palm Beach County told PEOPLE that Hardy’s letter has been forwarded to the COVID Education and Compliance Team. This department is responsible for determining “if a violation has occurred and what fines may be applied to such violations.” At this time, there is no word on whether or not the COVID Education and Compliance Team has found the club to be in violation of guidelines.
