New York City considering ending business contracts with Trump

New York City is considering ending its business contracts with President Trump, according to the mayor’s office, after the president urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, which they violently attacked last week. 

Laura Feyer, a spokeswoman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), told The Hill on Tuesday in a statement that the city was “reviewing whether legal grounds exist” to cease its contracts with the Trump Organization. 

The president’s company, which he still owns but passed day-to-day operations to his sons, has contracts with New York City to run a carousel, two ice rinks and a golf course in the city’s parks. The Trump Organization has made about $17 million from the park concessions, The Washington Post reported, citing the president’s most recent financial disclosures. 

“The attacks on our Capitol killed a police officer, left four rioters dead, exposed lawmakers to COVID-19 and threatened the constitutional transfer of power. They were a national abomination,” Feyer said in a statement.

“We’re reviewing whether legal grounds exist in light of these new circumstances to terminate concessions with the Trump Organization,” she added, without providing a timeline for the decision. 

The Trump Organization did not immediately return a request for comment. 

The city’s consideration to terminate its business agreements with the Trump Organization comes amid the aftermath of the Capitol riot and as accusations that the president incited the violence extend to Trump’s private businesses. 

New York-based Signature Bank announced this week that it would shut down Trump’s personal bank accounts because of the “displeasure and shock” management experienced due to the Capitol attack. The president’s personal accounts at the bank held about $5.3 million, according to the Post.

The bank also called on Trump to resign and declared it would not do future business with lawmakers who challenged President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory after the riot. 

“To witness a rioter sitting in the presiding chair of the U.S. Senate and our elected representatives being told to seek cover under their seats is appalling and an insult to the Republic,” Signature Bank said in a statement.

“We witnessed the President of the United States encouraging the rioters and refraining from calling in the National Guard to protect the Congress in its performance of duty.”

Shopify, the e-commerce business, also took down trumpstore.com, which the Trump Organization utilized to sell merchandise, saying it violated policies that ban the “promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause.”

The Professional Golfers’ Association of America announced this week that it planned to move its 2022 championship away from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.