Attendees included Donald Trump Jr, and his girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle. Screenshot / Donald Trump Jr, Facebook
Attendees included Donald Trump Jr, and his girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle. Screenshot / Donald Trump Jr, Facebook
US President Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, hosted a New Year's Eve gala at which revellers without masks dined indoors and danced to performances by Vanilla Ice and members of the Beach Boys.
Trump himself did not attend the black-tie party at Mar-a-Lago, as he usually does,instead cutting short his holiday and returning to Washington on Thursday (Friday NZT) without explanation.
But members of the President's family and extended political circle partied on anyway at an event that flouted warnings against indoor gatherings during the holidays as the coronavirus surges to its deadliest levels yet.
The gala also appeared to violate specific guidelines posted on the Palm Beach County website mandating facial coverings in "all businesses and establishments".
Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Florida, hosted a New Year's Eve gala at which revellers without masks dined and danced indoors. Photo / Saul Martinez, The New York Times
Attendees included Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and his girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer and a former New York mayor, was shown in online footage ballroom-dancing with a female partner to a rendition of New York, New York. More than 500 guests were expected, according to The Palm Beach Post.
"Ok this is amazing. Vanilla Ice is playing the Mar-a-Lago New Years Eve party," the younger Trump wrote in a Facebook post that included a clip of the 53-year-old rapper, best known for his smash hit Ice Ice Baby, performing before hundreds of closely packed revellers dancing awkwardly in formal wear and without masks.
"As a child of the 90s you can't fathom how awesome that is. Beyond that I got the birthday shoutout so that's pretty amazing."
Other guests included the President's second son, Eric, and his wife, Lara; the President's daughter Tiffany; Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, and Mike Lindell, the Palm Beach-based chief executive of MyPillow and a prominent supporter of the President.
The President's motorcade arrives at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on December 30. Photo / AP
Social media posts from the event also showed live performances by Teri Nunn, the lead singer of the 1970s and 80s new-wave band Berlin, famous for the song Take My Breath Away, and two members of the Beach Boys, who now perform without founding members Al Jardine and Brian Wilson. (Jardine and Wilson have disavowed performances that the touring version of the group, fronted by another founding member, Mike Love, has played in support of Trump.)
A menu posted on Instagram by one attendee showed a first course of "Mr Trump's Wedge Salad", followed by cheese tortellini and a wagyu beef entree.
Tickets to the event reportedly cost US$1000 (NZ$1071). Many were most likely sold days before the first news reports emerged on Thursday that Trump would not attend.
One photo posted online by Eric Trump featured at least 15 party guests and one server in the background. Only the server wore a mask.
The President and the first lady, Melania Trump, unexpectedly returned to the White House hours before the party, which he had originally planned to attend. It was unclear why Trump flew back to Washington, where he has not appeared in public since his return.
President Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, unexpectedly returned to the White House hours before the party. Photo / AP
As the new year approached on Thursday night, Trump's mind was on his election defeat as he continued to spread false claims of voter fraud.
Less than 15 minutes before midnight, as millions of Americans were preparing to toast the arrival of 2021, Trump tweeted two clips from the right-wing One America News Network promoting conspiracy theories about the election.
Today, Trump continued to send election-related tweets, including several promoting a protest rally in Washington on Thursday, when Congress will convene to formally certify the election of President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump also tweeted a complaint after Congress voted for the first time to override one of his vetoes, upholding the passage of a sweeping military spending bill. The President complained that the measure did not repeal a law shielding technology companies like Facebook and Twitter from liability for their users' posts, and that Congress had not approved the larger economic stimulus cheques he had demanded.
"Now they want to give people ravaged by the China Virus $600, rather than the $2000 which they so desperately need," he wrote. "Not fair, or smart!"
