On the day the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for a second time, New York City said it is terminating all contracts with his business organization.
Trump, a businessman four decades ago, built his civic reputation behind reclamation projects such as Central Park's Wollman Rink.
Fallout from last week's assault by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol in Washington that left five people dead was too much, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Wednesday.
“The City of New York has determined that it is within our power to terminate all contracts with the Trump Organization,” he said. “So, we will no longer be doing any business at all.” De Blasio and city Corporation Counsel James Johnson accused Trump of inciting the riot.
Trump's enterprise operates four visitor attractions. Two others, also in Central Park, are the iconic carousel and Lasker Rink. The organization also runs Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx, along the East River. According to the mayor, the contracts are valued at about $17 million a year.
“By the contract language, we have the right to terminate contracts, obviously, if a criminal act has been committed and a criminal act has been committed,” de Blasio said. “So, goodbye to the Trump Organization, we are not doing any business with you.”
Cancelling the golf-course contracts could take “a number of months," he said, while the others could take place within a month.
The PGA Tour, the governing body for professional golf, recently decided to relocate its 2022 PGA Championship — one of the sport’s four Grand Slam events — scheduled for Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey about 45 miles from Manhattan. The city, in its contract with the Trump Organization to run Ferry Point, had called for a championship-level golf course that would attract major vents.
Wollman Rink had fallen into disrepair during the city's 1970s fiscal crisis and closed in 1980. Efforts by the city's parks department under Mayor Ed Koch to fix it failed in the following years.
"The city's utter abject incompetence in rebuilding a skating rink — not that hard — is what caused Trump to rise to global prominence in the first place, nearly 40 years ago," said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Over Koch's objections, the city's Board of Estimate accepted Trump's proposal. Koch and Trump feuded often and openly.
"Trump called in favors from compamies that expected huge future contracts frm him, which kept the rink project's costs down," New York University professor Jonathan Soffer wrote in his book, "Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City." Despite unexpected drainage and sewer-system problems, said Soffer, Trump finished the rink on budget and on time.
Johnson called the contract termination "in the best interest of the city," adding "we have a strong ground to do that, and we're taking it.”
Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization along with one of the president’s other sons, Donald Jr., said in a statement to NBC News:
“Yet another example of Mayor de Blasio's blatant disregard for the facts. The City of New York has no legal right to end our contracts. And if they elect to proceed, they will owe the Trump Organization over $30 million. This is nothing more than political discrimination and attempt to infringe on the first amendment and we plan to fight vigorously.”
De Blasio said the city is working immediately to find new vendors.
