NEW YORK (AP) – The city of New York will end business contracts with President Donald Trump after the uprising last week at the US Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday.
“I’m here to announce that the city of New York is breaking all contracts with the Trump organization,” de Blasio said in an interview with MSNBC.
De Blasio said the Trump organization earns about $ 17 million a year in profits from its contracts to run two ice skating rinks and a carousel in Central Park, as well as a golf course in the Bronx.
The city can legally terminate a contract if the leadership of a company engages in criminal activity, the Democratic mayor said. “To incite an uprising – let’s be very clear, let’s say the words again – to encourage an uprising against the United States government is clearly criminal activity,” he said.
An e-mail commenting was sent to the Trump Organization on Wednesday.
The move to end Trump’s business contracts in the city he previously mentioned at home is the latest example of how the January 6 violation by violent Trump supporters affected the Republican president’s business interests.
The PGA of America voted Sunday to remove the PGA Championship from its New Jersey golf course next year, a move that followed after social media platforms deactivated Trump’s accounts and removed Shopify’s online stores affiliated with him.
De Blasio had earlier said the city was examining its legal options to terminate the Trump contracts. He said Wednesday that city attorneys state that if Trump sues over the move, the city will win. Trump ‘incited a crowd to attack the Capitol’, de Blasio said, adding: ‘The lawyers were looking at it and it was just as clear as a bell that is the reason for breaking these contracts, and we going to do it right away. ‘
However, the rift with Trump’s name society will not take place immediately. De Blasio said in a news release that the termination of the contract for the management of the Ferry Point golf course in the Bronx is complicated “and is expected to take several months.”
De Blasio says the termination of the contract to manage Wollman Rink and Lasker Rink in Central Park will take effect in 30 days. The termination of the contract for the management of the carousel, which has now been concluded, takes effect 25 days after written notice.
The city will look for new sellers for all the attractions, the mayor said.
Removing the Trump name from the course, the carousel and the golf course will not wipe him out of New York City. He will continue to operate Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the Trump International Hotel in Central Park West. Trump moved his official residence in 2019 from Trump Tower to Florida.