Palm Seaside County appears to finish Trump golf course lease after U.S. Capitol riot

US President Donald Trump plays golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the United States, December 30, 2020.

Marco Bello | Reuters

Palm Beach County, Florida this week was looking for a way to terminate a contract with President Donald Trump’s award-winning International Golf Club.

Howard Falcon, an assistant district attorney, said Friday a district commissioner asked him to see if the place could terminate its lease on the president’s popular West Palm Beach course.

The Palm Beach Post, which first reported the county was reviewing the lease, added that the Trump deal was paying $ 88,338 monthly rent on the property.

Trump visits his eponymous international golf club, which is located in West Palm Beach without a legal personality and is owned by the county, during his visits to Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Palm Beach. It is known that the President throws parties in the club. Well-known guests on the course in recent years have included Kid Rock and Tiger Woods.

Despite interest in terminating the lease, Falcon said he doesn’t believe the county has legal authority to terminate it. He added that the county’s lease was with a Trump organization rather than the president himself.

An attorney for Trump’s golf course added to the Post that he had spoken to Falcon and concluded that there is “no basis for terminating the lease”.

The county’s move to cut ties with Trump came about a week after hundreds of violent rioters stormed Capitol Hill and at least five people died, including a police officer.

The unprecedented attack on the Capitol has resulted in national and bipartisan setbacks from politicians from across the political spectrum. The House of Representatives made history this week when it decided to indict Trump a second time for his role in inciting or otherwise promoting the insurgency.

President-elect Joe Biden, who will succeed Trump on Wednesday, has publicly denounced the president’s actions, calling him “incompetent”.

Although the impeachment process upset the president, Trump is reportedly more upset about the impact the insurrection has had on his business reputation and standing in the golfing world.

Several news outlets reported earlier this week that Trump was apoplectic after the PGA of America voted Sunday to remove the championship from his New Jersey golf course next year.

“We are in a political situation that we did not create,” Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, told the Associated Press. “We are trustees for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given in the face of the tragic events on Wednesday that we could no longer hold it in Bedminster. The Damage could have been irreparable. “

A New York Times reporter wrote Monday that Trump’s reaction to the PGA decision was compared to his reaction to the impeachment trial before him ” [a] other order of magnitude. “

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the city would sever its own business relations with the president’s company after the riot. In a statement, de Blasio said New York is taking steps to terminate all contracts with the Trump Organization, which is made up of hundreds of companies owned by the president.

The organization has three concession contracts in the city – the Central Park Carousel, Wollman and Lasker Ice Rinks, and Ferry Point Golf Course – that gross $ 17 million annually for the company, according to The Washington Post.

“The president instigated a rebellion against the United States government that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional delegation,” de Blasio said in a statement.

“The city of New York is in no way associated with such unforgivable acts and we are taking immediate steps to terminate all Trump Organization contracts,” he added at the time.

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