Former President Trump’s annual New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago this year was sold out, with guests reportedly including hundreds of club members and Trump’s political allies.
Attendees included MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former president’s one-time attorney Rudy Giuliani. Eric Trump was also in attendance with his wife Lara and Melania Trump, according to the Palm Beach Post. But several other family members appeared to be conspicuously absent, including Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Giuliani tweeted multiple times Film from events, including one In the video, Trump yells at the former New York City mayor, saying, “Rudy Giuliani, the greatest mayor in New York history, we can’t use him right now, can we? Thank you Rudy !”
According to the Palm Beach Post, none of the high-profile attendees mentioned Trump or their hopes for 2023 as they walked the red carpet.
The former president, who announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidency in November, spoke briefly with the media, reiterating some of his key policy concerns while dodging certain issues.
“We need a strong border, and we need it now,” he said, according to the Palm Beach Post. He later added, “We also have to get the economy back … Inflation has destroyed our country.”
But Trump reportedly dodged questions from reporters about whether he would support a nationwide abortion ban and a request for an investigation into a COVID-19 vaccine made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Ron DeSantis has long been seen as the former president’s strongest potential challenger for the Republican nomination in 2024, earlier this month.
When asked about the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol this week, the former president walked away, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The party was held after a House committee investigating the insurrection released its final report last month, in which it concluded Trump was the “central cause” of the day’s events and released allegations against the former president. Four criminal cases. The committee recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate Trump for sedition, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements and obstruction of official process.
In addition to its own probe into Jan. 6, the Justice Department is looking into Mar-a-Lago’s possible mishandling of government documents. The FBI raided the property in August and said it recovered more than a hundred classified records during that time.
Speaking to reporters at the gala, Trump lashed out at the FBI, saying, “I think it’s a disgrace what’s happening with the FBI and the weaponization of justice. There’s never been anything like that,” Newsweek reported. , which is disgraceful.”
