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Confusion After Secret Service Closes Road at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club

Posted on by Vaseline

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As each car approached the roundabout where South Ocean Boulevard and Southern Boulevard intersect in Palm Beach on Saturday morning, the brakes were repeatedly applied.

As Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies urged drivers to move on, confusion was evident in every car. Drivers wanted to know: What was going on?

On Thursday and Friday, state and local officials announced that South Ocean Boulevard north of the roundabout would be closed indefinitely. The road extends to South County Road, a little over a mile to the north.

It was the latest move by the U.S. Secret Service to beef up security at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and other Trump properties following an attempted assassination at Trump’s July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The road is closed to vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, officials said. Residents of homes affected by the closure must provide identification to enter the area, and must exit and enter the area from the north. Only law enforcement and firefighters will be allowed in both directions, officials said.

The closure went into effect at 5 a.m. Saturday, Palm Beach officials announced Friday, ahead of the 4 p.m. Saturday timeline announced Thursday afternoon. Thursday’s announcement also said the closure would last until the Nov. 5 general election “at a minimum.”

Trump is not at Mar-a-Lago, his primary residence. This summer, he has been traveling mostly between his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and campaign appearances, with a few stops at his club in Palm Beach. Earlier this week, he was in Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention. Later Saturday, he will speak at a campaign rally in Michigan.

South Ocean Boulevard will remain closed longer than announced Thursday, when the city announced the road would be closed from the roundabout north to Woodbridge Road, just past the Mar-a-Lago property line.

Instead, the city said Friday that the closure would include more roads, in accordance with Secret Service instructions.

Saturday morning, motorists were confused. There were no signs along the route explaining what was happening and why.

A bulldozer moved concrete barriers while orange traffic cones prevented eastbound drivers from entering the roundabout to head north. Officers instructed confused motorists to navigate to what at one point was a single lane that would first open to allow northbound traffic to head west onto Southern, then eastbound traffic to head south onto South Ocean.

Cyclists who regularly use the route for Saturday morning rides were stunned. Some paused to see if they could maneuver through the barricades. One person coming from the north stopped his bike, put his hands on his hips and wondered why the road had to be closed if Trump isn’t at Mar-a-Lago.

That was the main question from local officials, many of whom said they were surprised by the Secret Service’s decision.

The closure is necessary “due to increased security measures involving Mar-a-Lago and U.S. Secret Service protected individuals,” the Palm Beach police said in a warning.

City Manager Kirk Blouin said Palm Beach plans to begin exploring options next week. He told the Daily News the city cannot close the road indefinitely “unless we are ordered to do so.”

“If there’s a protected person in residence, it makes sense,” he said. “If there’s no one, I don’t understand the road closure at this point. I don’t know what information the government has, or if it’s a knee-jerk reaction. But for this weekend, it’s going to be closed, and we’ll have more information next week. We’re going to fight the permanent road closure. And we’re going to try to work with, of course, the federal government. We believe that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should have the protections they need to stay safe. But we have to have other options.”

Blouin said the city plans to request a letter from the Secret Service ordering the closure of South Ocean Boulevard.

“If there is no protected area at Mar-a-Lago, we are not prepared to close the road,” he said. “That is my opinion. The council can decide otherwise.”

“The safety and security of our protected individuals is the highest priority of the U.S. Secret Service,” a U.S. Secret Service spokesman said in an emailed statement to the Daily News. “Out of operational security concerns, the Secret Service does not discuss the means and methods used in our protective operations.”

Read more about safety and traffic in Mar-a-Lago.