Guests at the New Year’s Eve party at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club failed to wear masks, in violation of rules in Palm Beach County, Florida, officials warned Tuesday, threatening to fine the club $15,000 for any future infractions amid reports that Trump is planning to live there after he moves out of the White House.
In a letter to the club’s executive vice president, Bernd Lembcke, Palm Beach officials said there was a “a breakdown in enforcement of the mask orders that led to almost the entire room of guests being without masks” during parts of the New Year’s party.
The letter cites video footage of the event that showed partiers not wearing masks, including a video shot by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. of a large unmasked crowd watching rapper Vanilla Ice perform “Ice Ice Baby” and “Play That Funky Music.”
Under Palm Beach County’s rules, people are only allowed to remove their masks while eating or drinking when indoors.
Future violations of the county’s mask order could result in a Special Magistrate hearing, an attached warning notices stipulates, “where there may be imposed against you a fine of up to $15,000 per violation.”
President Trump—who has himself repeatedly refused to wear a mask—was expected to attend the event but left Mar-a-Lago before it took place.
The president, who changed his legal residence to Mar-a-Lago from Trump Tower in New York City, is said to be planning on moving to the club once his presidency ends, and First Lady Melania Trump has been renovating the club’s private quarters in anticipation of the move, but neighbors say that under an agreement he signed to turn the former mansion into a club, he’s not allowed to live there.
