June 22 (UPI) — The Trump Organization sued New York City on Monday for terminating a contract for the Ferry Point Golf Course in the city following the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The company owned by former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit in state court in Manhatten alleging wrongful termination of the contract saying the city and Mayor Bill de Blasio had “denounced President Trump in the most inflammatory terms” and incited others to terminate business” with entities related to him.
“The City has no right to terminate our contract,” Trump organization officials said. “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.”
The Trump Organization had operated the golf course since 2015 and the contract was not set to expire until 2032, while the other contracts were set to expire earlier this year and were not renewed.
De Blasio announced plans to terminate the contracts for the Bronx golf course, the Central Park Carousel and the Wollman and Lasker skating rinks a week after the attacks at the capitol as he said Trump “incited a rebellion against the United States government that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional transfer of power.”
The company cited comments de Blasio made earlier in his term as mayor in which he threatened to terminate Trump’s contracts.
“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,” they said.
A spokesman for the city law department said Monday that the city followed the proper termination process detailed in the contract.
“The actions of Mr. Trump to incite a deadly riot at the Capitol on January 6th caused a breach of the Ferry Point contract by eliminating options for hosting championship events and we will vigorously defend the City’s decision to terminate the contract,” he said.
