U.S. President Donald Trump plays golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, on December 30, 2020.
Marco Bello | Reuters
This week, Palm Beach County, Florida, began looking for ways to terminate a contract with President Donald Trump’s prized International Golf Club.
The county attorney’s office confirmed Friday to NBC News that an official asked if Palm Beach has ways to cancel the lease with the president of West Palm Beach’s esteemed course.
The Palm Beach Post, which first reported that the county was examining the lease, added that Trump pays $ 88,338 a month in rent for the property.
Trump frequents his titular international golf club, located in West Palm Beach, which is not a business and is owned by the county, during his visits to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate. It is known that the president organizes parties at the club; Top course guests in previous years have included Kid Rock and Tiger Woods.
Howard Falcon, the county’s deputy attorney, told the Post he doesn’t believe the county has the legal capacity to abruptly end the lease, and said his “first reaction is that it would be a stretch.”
A Trump golf course attorney added to the Post that he had spoken to Falcon and concluded that there is “no basis for canceling the lease.”
The county’s move to explore ties with Trump came about a week after hundreds of violent riots stormed Capitol Hill, killing at least five people, including a police officer.
The unprecedented attack on the Capitol has led to a national and bipartisan retreat of politicians from across the political spectrum. The House of Representatives made history this week when it voted to accuse Trump for a second time for his role in inciting or encouraging rioting.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will succeed Trump on Wednesday, has publicly criticized the president’s actions and called him “incompetent.”
While the impeachment proceedings angered the president, Trump appears to be more upset by the consequences the uprising has had on his business reputation and reputation in the golf world.
Several media outlets reported earlier this week that Trump was apoplectic after America’s PGA voted Sunday to withdraw the Championship from its New Jersey golf course next year.
“We are in a political situation that we are not creating,” Seth Waugh, CEO of 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 can we better protect it? It was given to the tragic events on Wednesday that we could no longer celebrate it in Bedminster. The damage it could have been irreparable. “
A New York Times reporter wrote Monday that, compared to his reaction to the impeachment proceedings before him, Trump’s reaction to the PGA’s decision “was [a] different order of magnitude. “
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday the city would sever its own business ties with the president’s company in the wake of the riots. 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 businesses owned by the president.
The organization has three contracts to award concessions to the city: the Central Park carousel, the Wollman and Lasker skating rinks and the Ferry Point Golf Course, which provide the company with $ 17 million a year, according to the Washington Post .
“The president sparked a rebellion against the U.S. government that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional transfer of power,” de Blasio said in a statement.
“New York City will not be associated with any unforgivable act in any form, form or form, and we are immediately taking steps to terminate all contracts of the Trump organization,” he added at the time.