THE Trump Organization has sued New York City for axing a Bronx golf club contract after the Capitol riots, in a move Trump's camp is calling "politically motivated."
The organization slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio in court papers filed on Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
"Mayor de Blasio had a pre-existing, politically-based predisposition to terminate Trump-related contracts, and the city used the events of January 6, 2021 as a pretext to do so," the papers say, according to the New York Post.
The suit claims that the city canceled the contract on the grounds that the Trump Organization's "tarnished brand" after January 6 would make it difficult to attract professional tournaments to the course, which violates lease terms.
Shortly after the Capitol riots, where Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol building in DC, de Blasio announced the city's plans to cancel the Bronx golf contract as well as three other Trump Organization attractions in the city.
He walked back on shutting the other attractions — the Central Park Carousel, the Wollman Rink, and the Lasker Rink — but the plan to ax the golf course in November apparently still stands.
The organization's suit claims that the ability to host tournaments was not part of lease terms — and also maintains that the course could, in fact, attract tournaments.
The contract was supposed to run for another 14 years, according to the court papers.
The suit says that Trump Ferry Point, the organization's operator, "has fully complied with, and continues fully to comply with, its obligation to operate the licensed premises as a first-class, tournament quality daily fee golf course."
The Trump Organization opened the course in April 2015 after signing a contract with the city in 2012.
Before the company took over the land in the Bronx, it was a landfill for nearly 50 years, according to the Post.
Trump's camp is claiming that the effort to end the contract is just another example of Mayor de Blasio trying to push his "own partisan agenda."
"The city has no right to terminate our contract," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement.
"Mayor de Blasio's actions are purely politically motivated, have no legal merit, and are yet another example of the mayor's efforts to advance his own partisan agenda and interfere with free enterprise.
"But for our involvement, New Yorkers would still be looking at an environmental eyesore instead of a spectacular, world-class golf facility."
If the city is not able to prove that the Trump Organization violated the agreement and ends the contract anyway, NYC could own the company $30million, the court docs allege.
Source: Read Full Article