Trump Skips His NYE Party at Mar-a-Lago

Attendees hoping to see Donald Trump during a New Year’s Eve party at the president’s private Palm Beach club had to make due with “Mr. Trump’s Wedge Salad,” which was on the menu along with cheese tortellini and Wagyu beef. Trump, who had been staying at Mar-a-Lago and was expected to be at the shindig, headed back to Washington on Thursday morning, CNN reports, leaving attendees to party with Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump, along with conservative media personalities and others. Rapper Vanilla Ice and two members of the Beach Boys were among the entertainment.

“OK this is amazing,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote about Vanilla Ice’s performance in a Facebook post that featured a video showing “closely packed revelers dancing awkwardly,” per the New York Times. Some 500 people reportedly attended the party, paying $1,000 each. Trump provided no explanation for his early return to Washington. However, CNN notes, the president remains consumed with attempting to overturn his election defeat, and Persian Gulf tensions are increasing as the one-year anniversary of the US strike that killed Iran’s top general approaches. (More Donald Trump stories.)