U.S. President Donald Trump plays golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, December 30, 2020.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Palm Beach County, Florida, began this week looking for a way to terminate a contract with President Donald Trump’s award-winning International Golf Club.
The county attorney’s office confirmed to NBC News on Friday that an officer asked if Palm Beach has a means of canceling its rent with the West Palm Beach course, loved by the president.
The Palm Beach Post, which first reported that the county was examining the lease, added that Trump pays $ 88,338 a month rent for the property.
Trump frequents its proprietor International Golf Club, located in the unincorporated West Palm Beach and owned by the county, during his visits to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach property. The president usually hosts parties at the club; Notable guests for the course in previous years included Kid Rock and Tiger Woods.
Howard Falcon, the county’s assistant chief attorney, told the Post that he does not believe the county has the legitimacy to abruptly end the contract, saying his “initial reaction is that it would be overkill.”
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 rent.”
The county’s decision to explore cutting ties with Trump came about a week after hundreds of violent protesters stormed the Capitol, leading to the deaths of at least five people, including a police officer.
The unprecedented attack on the Capitol led to national and bipartisan resistance by politicians from across the political spectrum. The House of Representatives made history this week when it voted to impeach Trump for the second time for his role in inciting or encouraging the riot.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will succeed Trump on Wednesday, publicly rebuked the president’s actions and called him “incompetent”.
While the impeachment process has angered the president, Trump is reportedly more upset by the consequences the riot has had on his business reputation and position in the golf world.
Several media reported earlier this week that Trump was apoplectic after the PGA of America voted on Sunday to take the championship off his golf course in New Jersey next year.
“We find ourselves in a political situation that was not ours,” Seth Waugh, CEO of PGA of America, told the Associated Press. “We are trustees of our members, the game, our mission and our brand. And how can we best protect this? Our feeling was given to the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. It could have been irreparable. “
A New York Times reporter wrote on Monday that, compared to his reaction to the impeachment process before him, Trump’s reaction to the PGA decision “was [a] different order of magnitude. “
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that the city would cut its own commercial ties with the president’s company after the unrest. 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 contracts to manage concessions in the city – Central Park Carousel, the skating rinks Wollman and Lasker and the golf course Ferry Point – which earn the company $ 17 million a year, according to The Washington Post.
“The president incited a rebellion against the United States government that killed five people and threatened to make the constitutional transfer of power unfeasible,” de Blasio said in a statement.
“New York City will not be associated with these unforgivable acts in any way, medium or form, and we are immediately taking steps to terminate all Trump Organization contracts,” he added at the time.