Trump may never be able to retire to Mar-a-Lago, his winter White House

Once he quits the White House he could be banned from living at his favourite sanctuary in Florida.

Donald Trump makes a video call to the troops stationed worldwide from his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, last Christmas Eve. Picture: AFP

When Donald Trump leaves the White House in January, he is likely to head for his favourite sanctuary: Mar-a-Lago, the 126-room, 7ha private resort and golf club in Palm Beach he has dubbed the “winter White House”.

In fact, with liberal New York now hostile territory, the resort in Florida — which Mr Trump made his official state of residence last year — will make an obvious home.

There is just one glitch: in 1993, when Mr Trump was granted permission to turn the mansion into a members’ club, he reportedly signed an agreement with the Palm Beach town council that he would not use it as a private residence. According to the agreement, he can spend a maximum of 21 days there a year, and no more than seven days at a time.

The details were unearthed in council records by locals who have long been fighting an application by Mr Trump to build a dock on the waterfront at Mar-a-Lago.

Many of his neighbours are furious about him violating this agreement, but they also recognise it as the weapon they need to even up the fight with their overweening neighbour. It is one thing to flout the agreement as president, another as plain Citizen Trump.

“He has really got the deck stacked against him,” said Carina Bendeck, a resident and property consultant. “Last year he moved his legal residence from New York to Florida for tax reasons. I think if he lives there he can’t operate it as a club, but he would not want to lose the tax benefits of living in Florida. So (it would not surprise me) if that went into litigation.”

Reginald Stambaugh, a lawyer involved in the fight against the dock plan, told The Washington Post: “It’s either a club or a residence — not both. If he resides there, he will have to close the club.”

The Trumps, with son Barron, attend an event at Mar-a-Lago in 2013. Picture: Getty Images

Indeed, retreating to Palm Beach might be less fun when Mr Trump no longer wields the power of the presidency. On January 20, the day Joe Biden is due to be inaugurated, Trump will lose permission for the 15m helipad currently situated on Mar-a-Lago’s west lawn, which has been used for Marine One.

Yet Mr Trump’s Palm Beach headaches are one of a number of legal pitfalls that await him once he leaves office. A swath of potential lawsuits and investigations are headed his way that could ensnare him in all manner of civil and criminal litigation for years to come.

According to legal experts, the non-exhaustive list of potential allegations against him includes: obstruction of justice during Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election; violating the emoluments clause in the constitution by enriching himself through the power of the presidency; and violating campaign finance laws by sending hush-money to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels and the former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Added to these is a defamation suit from the author E Jean Carroll, who accuses Mr Trump of raping her in a department store in the 1990s (he has denied the allegation and called her a liar); and allegations of violating the laws governing contributions to the presidential inauguration, plus tax fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

“This is just what we know,” said Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer, who went to prison over campaign finance violations. “The man is corruption incarnate and once he leaves office, more will come to light.”

Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Picture: AFP

When out of power, Mr Trump will have far fewer weapons at his disposal. He will no longer have the justice department in his corner. He will also lose the protection of presidential immunity.

According to The New York Times, Mr Trump also has more than $US400m of debt, including $US300m due in the next four years — arrears he describes as “a peanut”. He is probably expecting to reap many millions in a post-presidential career that will potentially stretch far beyond the usual book deals and overpaid speeches.

The legal challenges he faces vary considerably in potency and many may fall away over time.

Mr Biden has privately told advisers that he does not want his presidency consumed by investigations of his predecessor, despite the growing clamour for retribution from parts of the media and Democratic base.

Mr Biden’s reticence makes it unlikely that the justice department will vigorously pursue federal crimes against Mr Trump. There is also the possibility the President could pardon himself, though such a move has never been tried before. This would not exempt him from state prosecutions, however. Two tough New York prosecutors are investigating his financial and tax affairs.

Whether Mr Trump deserves to be investigated and potentially prosecuted is a different matter from whether it would be in the national interest — or indeed the political interests of Democrats — to do so. In After Trump, lawyers and co-authors Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith disagree on the matter.

Bauer argues a norm that protects any president from prosecution after leaving office could be enormously damaging to the rule of law in America: “Any impression that the presidency is a ‘get out of jail free’ card is very troubling”. Goldsmith contends, however, that it is ultimately “not worth the candle” because of the damage it would do to the nation.

Certainly the spectacle of Mr Trump being prosecuted might appear vindictive and would give him more grievances with which to whip up his supporters.

“Harassment pure and simple” was the recent verdict of his daughter Ivanka on the New York tax investigations, in which she could also be implicated.

“Such a discussion is inconsistent with the history of American governance,” said Joseph diGenova, one of Mr Trump’s longtime legal advisers. “We do not treat former presidents this way, regardless of the hatred for this man. If Democrats and their allies in the media want to pursue this, they do so at their peril. He’s not going to Elba, so if he doesn’t win the presidency, he will (start up) his own television network — let them come at him then. They would have a revolt in this country the likes of which they’ve never seen. There would be pitchforks.”

The Sunday Times