An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said that FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 15, 2022.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump’s marquee Florida properties, including his Mar-a-Lago Club and various golf resorts lie outside the anticipated path of Hurricane Milton, the Category 5 storm that is expected to make landfall later this week on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
But the Sarasota offices of Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, are directly in the storm’s projected sight line.
Mar-a-Lago, the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter are all located in Palm Beach County. The Trump National Doral Miami is in Miami-Dade County.
Both areas are outside of the National Weather Service’s forecast cone for Milton, though those projections could change over the coming days.
Officials have nonetheless declared a local state of emergency in both counties, which are also under flood watch. Residents are encouraged to develop evacuation plans and have disaster kits ready as Milton’s projected path evolves.
Meanwhile, the Truth Social offices are located directly within the zone where Milton is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast late Wednesday.
Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, a publicly traded company that mainly operates the Truth Social platform.
In a August filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it had cut back expenses in part by reducing rent costs. But its most recent disclosure, filed Oct. 4, listed the Sarasota address and an area telephone number as the company’s principal executive offices.
Trump Media did not immediately respond to questions from CNBC about the office, how many employees work from it and how often, and how the company is preparing for Milton. The former president does not own the Sarasota office property himself.
NOAA tracking hurricane Milton on October 7, 2024.
Courtesy: NOAA
Milton is currently building in the Gulf of Mexico, escalating in strength by the hour and sustaining wind speeds of 175 miles per hour. It is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
“Time is running out,” Keith Turi, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s acting director of response and recovery, said in a call with reporters on Monday. “Today and tomorrow are the days left to prepare prior to landfall.”
Though Trump’s Florida properties appear to be safe so far, the storm has already disrupted some of his campaign plans.
The Republican presidential nominee was scheduled to tape a town hall on Tuesday with Univision, a major Spanish-language television broadcaster, in Miami. But as Milton intensified, the campaign decided to reschedule the taping for next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is set to tape her own separate Univision town hall in Nevada on Thursday.
Milton is expected to arrive in the southeastern United States late Wednesday on the heels of Hurricane Helene, the Category 4 storm that tore through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.