Donald Trump’s OAP neighbour, 82, claims security system shielding Mar-a-Lago estate is giving her brain injuries
DONALD Trump’s elderly neighbor has claimed that her brain has been injured by his posh Mar-a-Lago estate’s high-tech security system.
Legal action has been launched by the 82-year-old to stop the President returning to his favorite sanctuary after leaving the White House in January.
Attorney Reginald Stambaugh has rolled out a legal challenge to thwart Trump’s expected move back to his beloved 126-room, 17-acre private resort and golf club in Palm Beach.
Stambaugh writes in his complaint: “The security concerns remain of paramount importance including issues associated with a microwave fence which is known to cause permanent brain trauma and other debilitating injuries.
“My client exhibits symptoms of exposure.”
In his letter to the Town of Palm Beach, the legal eagle says he represents a neighbor who doesn’t want the President to take up residence at the luxury seaside property because it would decrease the area’s property values.
Stambaugh also claims that a microwave security barrier operated by the Secret Service is harming his client’s brain.
Although he did not give his client’s name, the Washington Post says it was sent on behalf of 82-year-old Nancy S. DeMoss.
Her property borders Trump’s Mar-a-Lago to the northwest.
The Daily Mail – which has seen the accusation – reports that the brain injury claim is consistent with the impact of high-powered radar sensors used to detect intruders at nuclear power stations and high-risk buildings.
Sources told ABC News in November that Trump will relocate along with several Secret Service agents to a renovated Mar-a-Lago.
The president has previously described the property as “the winter White House”.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service told ABC: “For operational security reasons, the Secret Service does not discuss specifically or in general terms the means, methods or resources we utilize to carry out our protective mission.”
Stambaugh also complains in his letter to officials that a 1990s agreement allowing Trump to convert the Florida property into a business prohibits anyone from living there, including him.
Trump bought Mar-a-Lago for $10million in 1985 from the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the owner of General Foods.
The President and First Lady Melania Trump changed their legal residence from New York City to Palm Beach last year.
But Stambaugh says that will violate the 1993 agreement between Trump and the town which allowed him to turn Mar-a-Lago from a private home into a club with ten guest-rooms for rent.
The agreement says only members can stay overnight and for no more than 21 days per year, divided into three one-week stays which cannot run consecutively.
The question is whether Trump is a club member and covered by those rules.
Stambaugh believes he is and comments made by Trump’s lawyer in 1993 back that up, reports the Associated Press.
“In order to avoid an embarrassing situation for everyone and to give the President time to make other living arrangements in the area, we trust you will work with his team to remind them of the agreement,” Stambaugh wrote.
“Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale and surely he can find one which meets his needs,” he added.
The Trump Organization rejected the attorney’s claim, saying, “there is no document or agreement in place that prohibits President Trump from using Mar-a-Lago as his residence”.
Town officials have not commented on the legal action.
In 1993, Trump and the town agreed he could turn the estate into a private club.
Limited to 500 members, the initiation fee is now $200,000 and annual dues are $14,000.
The agreement has strict restrictions on parking and noise and specifically bars Trump from operating a casino or an animal circus.
According to 1993 Palm Beach Post articles, Trump’s then attorney Paul Rampell told the town council he would no longer live at the mansion if the agreement were approved.
“Another question that’s often asked to me is whether Mr Trump will continue to live at Mar-a-Lago,” Rampell told the council, according to the Post.
“No, except that he will be a member of the club and therefore will be entitled to the use of guest rooms,” he said.
It’s not the first time Trump has clashed with neighbors about his property.
Before he became president, nearby residents complained about noise and a car lot-sized US flag and its 80-foot pole that Trump erected in 2006 without the proper permits.
Most read in US News
But they eventually sorted out the problem, with the pole allowed to remain – in return for a $100,000 donation to veteran charities.
Since taking office the President has spent more than 21 days per year at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump himself unsuccessfully sued Palm Beach County because jetliners taking off from the nearby international airport flew over the mansion.