New York City bans all contracts with Trump as snowballs for business backlash

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday on MSNBC that New York City will lose its multi-million dollar contracts with the Trump Organization after President Donald Trump was involved in last week’s riots on Capitol Hill.

“The contracts make it clear that if the company and the leadership of that company are involved in illegal activity, we have the right to terminate the contract,” said de Blasio. It is clear that inciting a revolt against the United States government constitutes a criminal activity.

In a follow-up statement, the mayor’s office said: “New York City will not be associated with these unpardonable acts in any way, shape or form, and we are immediately taking steps to terminate all Trump Organization contracts.”

The contracts are for the Wollman and Lasker Ice Rink in Central Park – all of which have been operated by the Trump Organization since the 1980s – and the Trump Links Golf Course at Ferry Point in the Bronx, which it has operated since 2015.

“Another example of Mayor de Blasio’s blatant disregard for the facts,” said Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of the president, in a statement to NBC News. New York City does not have the legal right to terminate our contracts and if they choose to go ahead, they owe the Trump organization more than $ 30 million. This is nothing more than political discrimination, an attempt to violate the First Amendment, and we plan to fight hard. “

The mayor’s office said the contracts would be canceled in accordance with the terms of the termination. The mayor’s office said the Central Park concessions will expire within a month after the notice is delivered, while the golf course will take “several months” to relax.

On sunday, The American Professional Golfers Association withdrew the 2022 PGA Championship, One of the most important professional golf tournaments, from the President’s Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

“This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement,” the Trump Organization said in a statement on Sunday. “We’ve had a nice partnership with the American PGA and are very disappointed with their decision.”

The Ferry Point contract contained a clause requiring the tournament to attract tournament events, but PGA’s cancellation likely casts doubt on whether it can fulfill that commitment.

Trump’s close business allies told NBC News that the president garnered loyalty from corporate leaders who were willing to look the other way as he ushered in the largest corporate tax cut in history. Wall Street rewarded that loyalty with joyful growth, while Main Street faltered.

But the inevitable photos and arrests of Capitol violators, supporters of hard-liners, anti-Semitism and white nationalists have prompted some hard-core Trump supporters to sever ties.

Just two weeks ago, Trump was seen as the “kingmaker” of the Republican Party waving its influence for the foreseeable future. But last Wednesday, everything changed.

Some prominent business supporters of Trump have begun to firmly back down from the president.

“I feel betrayed. Okay?” Billionaire businessman Ken Langon, co-founder of Home Depot and a major donor to the Republican Party, told CNBC Wednesday morning. “Last Wednesday, if it didn’t break the heart of every American, something was wrong. I didn’t sign up for that.”

“I will do everything I can from day one to make sure that I am doing my part to make Joe Biden the most successful president in the history of this country,” Langon said.

Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire executive of Blackstone and one of Trump’s biggest donors in the financial sector, has him, too He threw his support behind Biden. After the Capitol riots on January 6, Schwarzman said he was “shocked and alarmed by this mob’s attempt to undermine our constitution. As I said in November, the election result is very clear and there has to be a peaceful transition of power.”

Business allies close to Trump told NBC News that the distancing from the president is real and unlike anything seen in his history.

Now they are worried about what a beleaguered and increasingly desperate Trump might do in his remaining days in office.

The implosion of support represents Trump’s trademark self-deprecation from certification of brilliance and luxury and excess to a piece of militant political extremism, and will severely undermine his ability to capitalize on his name in the traditional business sense after he leaves the White House.

The entertainment and hospitality that the pandemic has already hit is unlikely to be a lucrative avenue for the president, except for the professional audience.

Major stores are unlikely to welcome Ivanka’s closed clothes line back on their shelves after praising the rioters as “patriots”.

Some members of Trump’s golf clubs have reportedly begun to reconsider membership, fearing “potential protests and sabotage.” The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Trump’s ability to raise money to benefit from his allegations of election fraud can now be curtailed – but even here, Some donors are suing to get their money back And the Payment processors sever ties. Potential foreign backers of Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and his extended family may be wary of tainted relationships and dwindling access.

Meanwhile, commercial backlash against the president for his role in the deadly attacks on the Capitol Building continues to grow.

After Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank, two of Trump’s favorite lenders, They said they wouldn’t deal with the president anymore, The Professional Bank, a Florida-based lending entity that has loaned Trump millions of dollars, said on Tuesday it was also severing ties.

“The professional bank has decided not to engage in any other business with the Trump Organization and its affiliates, and will end the relationship,” Todd Templin, the company’s public relations representative, told NBC News in an emailed statement.

Cushman & Wakefield, one of the nation’s largest real estate services companies, has said it will no longer do business with the Trump Organization, a company spokesperson told NBC News in an email. The company has previously handled leases on some of Trump’s major properties, including Trump Tower.

Trump also has a 60-year lease from the Government Services Administration to operate the old Washington Post Office in the name of the Trump International Hotel, as it has become a watering hole for foreigners and those seeking administration affection, and expensive room reservations for long stays and events.

Despite a clause stating that the lease cannot benefit an elected official, the Public Security Agency, which Trump oversees, has said its boss is complying because he was a civilian when he signed the contract. The GSA blocked Democrats’ attempts to investigate the conditions.

“The government can comment and propose to ban the Trump Organization, at which point it also cannot continue its commercial ties with the Trump Organization,” Stephen Schooner, professor of contract law at George Washington University, told NBC News in an email.

“The United States government should not have to deal with companies that lack work ethic and integrity, or that have been charged,” he said.

GSA did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

What other relationships and edifices might fall off?

The 436-acre area of ​​Donald J. Trump State Park, a few miles north of New York City, was donated by Trump to the state. After he was unable to obtain development approval to convert it into a golf course. It contains the dilapidated blocks of a former mansion by William D. Baldwin, an elevator magnate from the Golden Age.

The office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did not respond to NBC News’ inquiry regarding the park’s future.