A Washington, D.C., board decided Wednesday that it would not review Trump International Hotel’s liquor license to determine whether the owner, President Trump, met the “good character” test, which is required to serve alcoholic beverages in the city.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board made the unanimous decision that a character review could not be conducted until the hotel applied for renewal of the liquor license in March, according to a Politico report.
The call for a review of the license was prompted by a group of seven D.C. residents, including a federal judge, the former chair of the White House Council on Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships, and several religious leaders. Jerry Hirsch, Arizona Republican and chairman of nonprofit organization Make Integrity Great Again, funded the group.
The D.C. residents cited what they claimed were Trump’s moral failures, lying, alleged fraud, and racist comments as failures of the “good character” test. Additionally, last week, the group of residents used Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen’s, guilty plea admitting to criminal charges as further evidence of Trump’s moral failures. The anonymous New York Times op-ed, which stated that members of the administration were trying to thwart Trump’s worst instincts, was also cited as evidence.
“Mr. Trump adds to the evidence of his lack of ‘good character’ daily,” the D.C. residents wrote in the complaint. “A senior member of the current administration made a stunning admission about Mr. Trump that stands at the heart of the complaint submitted to the board: ‘the root of the problem is his amorality.’”
Joshua Levy, an attorney representing the group of residents, was hopeful at first that the complainants would be successful in their plea to the board saying, “The merits of the complaint are strong.” After the decision, however, Levy said of the matter, “The board made a mistake.” He added, “This is not the enforcement of the law that we expected.”
A lawyer for the group said they would appeal the case.
