Democracy Dies in Darkness

Under fire, President Trump drops his Mar-a-Lago dock plan — for now

May 12, 2020 at 3:33 p.m. EDT
Attorney Reginald Stambaugh stands for a portrait along the waterway near the Mar-a-Lago Resort. Stambaugh is the lawyer representing the family of Mar-a-Lago neighbor Nancy Demoss, who is opposing a new boat dock that would be built at Mar-a-Lago. (Scott McIntyre/For The Washington Post)

President Trump has temporarily withdrawn a controversial dock proposal at his Palm Beach resort that had raised larger questions about the legality of the change of his official residency from New York to Florida.

The decision, which was disclosed in a letter sent to the Palm Beach mayor and town council on Monday, comes three days after The Washington Post published a story that outlined assertions by local attorneys who argue that agreements Trump entered into with the town prevent him from living at the resort, and may have precluded him from legally registering to vote in Florida. (Trump has said he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican presidential primary this year.)