Palm Beach County, Girl Scouts are latest organizations seeking to end leases with Trump

The list of companies and organizations looking to cut business ties with President Donald Trump after last week’s attack on the Capitol is getting longer.

Palm Beach County in Florida said it is exploring ending its lease with the president’s prized Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The news was first reported by The Palm Beach Post.

The chief assistant county attorney, Howard Falcon, told NBC News on Friday that a county official had approached him to ask if it was possible to cancel the lease, citing “what happened in the capital” last week, Falcon said.

“My initial reaction is, it would be a stretch,” Falcon told the Post.

A lawyer for Trump’s golf course, who was not identified, told the Post there was “no basis for canceling the lease.”

“I don’t think we can do it, frankly,” Falcon told NBC News. “In order to be able to terminate a contract with the Trump Organization, we would need to have legal rights or means to doing that.”

The southern Florida county is also home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where he is expected to live after he leaves office next week. When staying at Mar-a-Lago, Trump has golfed at the Trump International Golf Club with dignitaries such as former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and golf star Tiger Woods.

The Trump Organization pays Palm Beach County $88,338 a month to lease the land, Palm Beach County told NBC News.

Aside from Palm Beach County, the Girl Scouts are also looking to withdraw from a lease with the Trump Organization.

The Girl Scouts of Greater New York chapter wants to break out eight years early from its 15-year lease at 40 Wall Street — the 1.3 million square foot, 72-story Trump Building in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District.

“As a matter of very high priority, our organization has been exploring options for getting out of the lease and the building,” Girl Scouts of Greater New York CEO Meridith Maskara said in a statement provided to NBC News. “We continue to investigate our options and work to find an office space that would best serve the girls of New York City.”

The building’s broker, the real estate service firm Cushman & Wakefield, also announced this week that it would be cutting ties with the Trump Organization, a company spokesperson told NBC News Wednesday. The firm joins a slew of other banks and organizations who have officially severed links with the president.

The Trump Building, which Trump acquired in 1995, is one of the president’s most valuable assets, worth about $400 million, according to Forbes.

source: nbcnews.com