Trump rallies held across South Florida to 'support the real president'
Donald Trump house hunts in a surprising place — which home will he pick?
Altitude Trampoline Park, with 37,000 square feet of jumping, lands in Kissimmee
New York City 'severing all contracts' with Trump after Capitol insurrection
By Karen Matthews
NEW YORK — New York City will terminate business contracts with President Donald Trump after last week's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
"I'm here to announce that the city of New York is severing all contracts with the Trump Organization," de Blasio said in an interview on 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 is engaged in criminal activity, the Democratic mayor said. "Inciting an insurrection — let's be very clear, let's say the words again — inciting an insurrection against the United States government clearly constitutes criminal activity," he said.
An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to the Trump Organization.
The move to end Trump's business contracts in the city he formerly called home is the latest example of how the Jan. 6 breach by violent Trump supporters is affecting the Republican president's business interests.
The PGA of America voted Sunday to take the PGA Championship away from his New Jersey golf course next year, a move that came after social media platforms disabled Trump's accounts and Shopify took down online stores affiliated with him.
De Blasio had said earlier that the city was examining its legal options to end the Trump contracts. He said Wednesday that city lawyers determined that if Trump sues over the move, the city will win. Trump "incited a mob to attack the Capitol," de Blasio said, adding, "The lawyers looked at it and it was just as clear as a bell that's grounds for severing these contracts and we're moving to do that right away."
Skaters take to the ice Nov. 3, 2016, at Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park. New York City will terminate business contracts with President Donald Trump after last week's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Jan. 13, 2021. The Trump Organization is under city contract to operate the two ice rinks and a carousel in Central Park as well as a golf course in the Bronx. (Mark Lennihan/AP)
The split with Trump's namesake company won't happen immediately, though. De Blasio said in a news release that terminating contract to run the Ferry Point golf course in the Bronx is complex "and is expected to take a number of months."
Latest National & World News
Termination of the contract to run Wollman Rink and Lasker Rink in Central Park will take effect 30 days after written notice is delivered, de Blasio said. Termination of the contract to run the carousel, which is now closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, will take effect 25 days after written notice.
Companies are dumping Trump brand in wake of Capitol insurrection. But can Chicago shed Trump Tower's giant sign? »
The city will seek new vendors for all the attractions, the mayor said.
Removing the Trump name from the rinks, carousel and golf course won't erase him from New York City. He will still operate Trump Tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West. Trump moved his official residence from Trump Tower to Florida in 2019.
Donald Trump is photographed in 1986 in New York's Central Park, in front of the Wollman Skating Rink, which he offered to rebuild after the city's renovation effort had come to a standstill. In 2021, New York City is looking to terminate its contracts with Trump to run two Central Park skating rinks and other facilities. (Mario Suriani/AP)
Two dead, one wounded in Ocoee supermarket shooting, police say