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A Miami restaurant where Donald Trump was cheered by supporters just hours after being indicted on Tuesday has been targeted with negative reviews on Yelp, with an "unusual activity alert" being placed on its page by the business review website.
Following Trump's visit, Versailles, a popular Cuban restaurant based in Miami's Little Havana district, was hit with four one-star reviews in a row, with one person describing it as a "pro Trump domestic terrorist organization."
Trump is currently the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, polling significantly ahead of second-placed Ron DeSantis. Thus, his legal travails, and anything associated with them, are attracting intense attention from supporters and opponents alike.
Trump visited Versailles for about 10 minutes following his indictment, according to Miami New Times, where fans sang "Happy Birthday" one day before the former president turned 77. The business tycoon turned Republican politician declared "food for everyone!" though according to the paper "no one got anything—not even a cafecito to-go." Speaking to Newsweek, a Versailles employee replied "Sorry, I don't know about that" when asked if Trump paid for any food during his visit.
After the visit, Versailles' Yelp page was hit by a string of negative reviews, prompting the website to temporarily disable comments as "we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events."
Before new comments were blocked a series of users posted one-star reviews and critical comments.
One said: "Versailles is a pro Trump domestic terrorist organization. Food is good, but not worth betraying your country." Another commented: "The food was absolutely awful. I happened to be there when they were prepping for trump to show up. Has I known, I would have never gone here. I will never go back."
A third posted: "Not good. Overrated. Don't bother."
Another user wrote: "The worse food I ever had...And I saw a rat." However, this review later disappeared from the website and was possibly deleted.
Newsweek reached out to Versailles via email and an online contact form for comment.
A spokesperson for Yelp told Newsweek: "When a business gains public attention, consumers may come to Yelp to express their views on the news. However, to maintain the integrity and quality of content on our platform, reviews on Yelp must be based on a genuine first-hand consumer experience with the business.
"We have signals in place that alert our moderators if there is an unusual spike in activity on a business's Yelp page, and if warranted, our moderators will investigate and may temporarily disable the ability to post as we place the appropriate Media Attention Alert over the business's reviews. After activity on the business page has dramatically decreased or stopped, we will clean up the page so only first-hand consumer experiences are reflected."
Trump pled not guilty to 37 charges in court on Tuesday connected to his alleged mishandling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, last summer. Thirty-one of the charges were for the willful retention of national defense information.
According to the indictment, documents in his possession included "information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its Allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack."
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is on covering news and politics ... Read more