In a symptom of the effect the coronavirus is having on the Trump family business, the president’s West Palm Beach golf club has asked to defer its monthly payment for its lease of public land.
In a letter to Palm Beach County, obtained by the Palm Beach Post, managers of the Trump International Golf Club said the mandated closure of courses coincided with its busiest time of year.
While Trump businesses are not included in economic relief provisions in the United States, they have sought bailout money in the United Kingdom and Ireland to cover the wages of bartenders, waiting staff, and others furloughed from golf properties.
Many of the family holdings are in the leisure sector — one of the worst affected by the pandemic.
In Palm Beach, the club pays about $88,000 a month for the land on which it operates an 18-hole and a 9-hole course.
“As you are aware, as a result of the pandemic, we, like many other businesses, were required by law to cease all operations,” wrote the club’s finance director, Ed Raymundo, on June 5. “Unfortunately these mandated closures occurred during the busiest parts of our season.”
It follows a similar move by the family’s signature Washington hotel, which is in the former Old Post Office Building. It emerged in April that it had asked to adjust the terms of its lease from the General Services Administration in line with relief offered to other tenants.
“Just treat us the same,” Eric Trump said in a statement at the time. “Whatever that may be is fine.”
Even so, such requests by the president’s business to a federal agency that ultimately answers to the president have raised conflict-of-interest questions.
Those prompted Trump Organization executives to say that they would not be applying for federal loans through the Small Business Administration.
Trump is a frequent visitor to his West Palm Beach club when he weekends at nearby Mar-a-Lago during the winter months. During his most recent visit in early March, he played golf on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Trump also hosts his Super Bowl party there every year.
