The Miami Beach Police Department says it doesn’t know how many pro-Donald Trump fliers their officers handed out while making traffic stops, and are calling the reference to a website selling Trump merchandise a “typographical error.”
The fliers, which explained how to resolve minor traffic tickets online, were supposed to provide the web address for Miami-DadeClerk.com, the URL for the county’s court system. Instead, one of the two URLs printed on the fliers excluded the web address’ hyphen and told people to visit MiamiDadeClerk.com, a website selling pro-Trump merchandise.
“We’re aware of this typographical error now,” Miami Beach Police Department spokesperson Ernesto Rodriguez told the Miami Herald. “We put out a notice to officers to discontinue using them.”
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Rodriguez said that the pro-Trump URL included on the flier was the result of an unintentional typo. A flier containing the correct URLs had been in circulation by the county courts since May 2020. However, they were incorrectly transcribed by the police department at some point and then distributed to people.
Rodriguez couldn’t say how long the fliers had been distributed by officers or how many people received them. However, he added, the police department removed the fliers from a room in police headquarters where officers pick up paperwork.
Newsweek contacted the Miami Beach Police Department for comment.
The incorrect website promoted Trump 2024 gear like a baseball cap stating, “Don’t Blame Me I Voted for Trump” as well as flags reading, “F*** Biden and f*** you for voting for him” and “Trump 2024 Take America Back.” The website also promoted a link to an unflattering video entitled, #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump.
The items contained links allowing visitors to purchase the items on the online retail website Amazon. The website didn’t appear to be linked to any official website connected to Trump or a supporting political action committee, the Herald reported.
Trump won Florida during the 2020 presidential election by getting 51.2 percent of the state’s total vote—just 371,686 votes more than current Democratic President Joe Biden. However, Biden won Miami-Dade County over Trump with a margin of 53.4 percent to 46.1 percent of the county’s vote.
Trump is looking to build four 42-story towers in a Miami real-estate development called “Doral International Towers,” the Herald reported. But while the development will include access to a high-end golf course and other amenities, the property will not use “Trump” in the name. The project still requires the Doral City Council’s approval.
