MIAMI — 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 the Assistant County Administrator of Palm Beach County Todd Bonlarron regarding a video on social media showing maskless partygoers at Mar-a-Lago, represents Florida District 88.
Hardy had tweeted two videos showing this 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."
In his letter to Bonlarron, Hardy is asking for fines and 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."
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.
