NEW YORK - They really want a mulligan in the Bronx. Two City Council leaders are demanding New York Mayor Eric Adams put the kibosh on a deal that allows former President Donald Trump's family business to run a Bronx golf course that will soon host a controversial Saudi Arabian golf tournament.
In a letter to Adams and city Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Councilman Shekar Krishnan cite a "consistent and documented pattern of criminal behavior" as their overarching rationale to pull the city's licensing agreement with Trump Ferry Point LLC and the Trump Organization.
They specifically point to a recent guilty plea from Allen Weisselberg, Trump's longtime accountant, as further reason for the city to pull the plug on the licensing agreement that allows the company to run the golf course at Ferry Point Park.
"The recent guilty plea by Allen Weisselberg on fifteen felony charges makes it untenable for the City to continue to do business with this operator," they wrote in the letter dated Sept. 7. "We must act quickly to protect taxpayers and the public interest."
The letter, which was first reported by The New York Times, also points to the fact that the Aramco Team Series golf tournament is scheduled just a month after the anniversary of 9/11.
The mayor's office almost immediately pushed back.
"What Speaker Adams and Council member Krishnan are advocating would require the city to pay up to $30 million to the Trump Organization, an outcome no one should want - despite our shared desire to see the Trump Organization removed from the golf course," Adams' spokesman Fabien Levy said. "If the Council members had reached out to us or read our previous statements, they would have known that.
"There is no provision in the inherited contract or existing law that would allow us to cancel this contract without paying that fee," he continued.
Last month, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to charges that include tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records. Under his deal with prosecutors, he's also required to testify at the trial of the Trump Organization.
The tournament, which is sponsored by the Saudi government, has drawn criticism from families whose relatives perished on 9/11. They've pointed to the Saudis' involvement in those attacks as well as the U.S. intelligence community's finding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
"Public park land should not be in the hands of Donald Trump or his criminal enterprise," Krishnan told the New York Daily News. "We've provided a road map for the commissioner to terminate this license immediately."
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond.
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