New York City to terminate business contracts with Trump after Capitol riot

New York City will terminate business contracts with Donald Trump after last week’s deadly attack on the US Capitol that the president incited when he exhorted his supporters to march on Congress to overturn his election defeat by force, the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced on Wednesday.

The president’s business empire, under the umbrella of the Trump Organization, is under city contract to operate the two public ice rinks and a carousel in Central Park as well as a golf course in the northern city borough of the Bronx.

The Trump Organization profits about $17m a year from those sites, de Blasio said.

“I’m here to announce that the city of New York is severing all contracts with the Trump Organization,” de Blasio said.

An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to the Trump Organization.

It is the latest example of how the 6 January breach by a violent mob of ultra-loyal Trump supporters is impacting the Republican president’s business interests.

The PGA of America voted on Sunday to take the prestigious 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.

On Wednesday it was announced that YouTube was suspending the president’s account from uploading new videos for at least seven days amid concerns that content risked inciting further violence.

De Blasio ran a short, unpopular and unsuccessful campaign for the presidency, ending his run in September 2019 for the Democratic nomination ultimately won by the now president-elect, Joe Biden.

Donald Trump was born in the New York City borough of Queens and became an unlikely property mogul in the city and beyond.

Protesters chanted “you’re fired” outside his Fifth Avenue Trump Tower offices and apartment on the day the November presidential election was called for Biden.