Could the Trump Hotel lose its alcohol license because of the character of the president?

Last week, a neighborhood advisory committee voted unanimously to support a petition to revoke Trump International Hotel's liquor license on the grounds that its owner – you know, the president of the United States – is not "good character".

The ANC is not even the one where the luxury hotel is located.

At its July 11 meeting, Commissioners of the ANC 4C – which represents several neighborhoods north of the downtown hotel – voted 8 to 0 to support a complaint aimed at deprive the hotel of its liquor license. In June, a group of religious and judicial leaders asked the DC Alcohol Control Board to force the Trump Hotel to justify why it should retain its liquor license when the DC law states that applicants must be "good" and generally able to badume their responsibilities.

"We are of the opinion that Donald Trump, the true and true owner of the Trump International Hotel, is not a person of good character, does not meet the requirements of the DC Code … and so "Bennett Hilley, President of the ANC 4C, and Charlotte Nugent, Vice President, wrote in a letter to the Director of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. (The letter in italics "should." The emphasis was on the authors.)

Zach Teutsch presents the resolution to his fellow commissioners of the ANC 4C. He says that it is "correct and very important" that the Washington, DC, law requires that alcohol license applicants be of good character. "And it's a way to see how serious we are as a community," he adds.

According to ABRA spokesman, Max Bluestein, any one or any civic group can file a complaint against a licensee. license period, but an NCA may not file an official protest against a license if the company is not located within 600 feet of its jurisdiction. In addition, a formal protest can only be filed if an alcohol permit is first reviewed by the ABC Board of Directors or where it is to be renewed. who in the case of the Trump hotel will arrive in 2019.

Bluestein says that seven residents of the District of Columbia – three reverend, two rabbis and two retired judges – have filed the original complaint to the board of trustees. ABC administration in mid-June. . The complaint details what Americans have read for months about President Trump: the charges of badual misconduct, entrepreneurs who claim that Trump companies have not paid them, the fraudulent practices of the company. Trump University today of lies and deceptions and other allegations.

"This is not a political coup," says Joshua Levy, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the seven residents. The petition, says Levy, is funded by the Campaign for Accountability and Transparency Inc., a nonprofit group so new that it does not have a web presence yet. The group is backed by Jerry Hirsch, an Arizona Republican who practiced law and operated real estate and technology companies before turning to philanthropy.

The complaint alleges that even though the president has put his affairs, including the hotel, in the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, he is still the "real and real" owner of the hotel and his liquor license. Press reports have already noted that Trump can withdraw money from the trust, which is controlled by his adult sons.

Trump, the complaint says, "is subject to the same requirement of good character that applies to all other dismissed."

ANC 2C, the commission that covers downtown Washington, DC including the Trump Hotel, does not intend to rule on the June complaint, said President John Tinpe.The ANC, Tinpe adds, has supported the permit of 39 Alcohol from the hotel when it was initially before the board for approval.Multiple sources claim that the board attaches great importance to the support of an ANC when it decides to go ahead. whether or not to approve a license, although the organization may act independently of the recommendation of a neighborhood commission.

TINPE baderts that ANC 2C maintains its original decision. "We do not take into consideration the policy, "says Tinpe." It would be excessive to comment on someone's character. "He says it's a slippery slope if an NCA decides to take the measure of the character of a licensee. Such action could lead to a wave of similar protests against other homeowners.

"Now, if there is criminal activity, it's different," adds Tinpe. "But the subject of the character is something different." A recent column The Washington Post made a similar remark, citing an alcohol licensing case in 1981, Haight v. ABCBoard, in which the District Court of Columbia held that a good character simply prohibited "unlawful conduct and no longer"

. But in a supplement to his original complaint, Levy argues that Tinpe and King misunderstand what the Court of Appeal said in Haight v. ABCBoard. In particular, the court wrote: "We do not necessarily suggest that the [ABC] Council could ever require more license applicants than mere compliance with the law, but to do so, the Council must inform applicants" [19659004] In the Haight case v. ABCBoard, the commission decided to disregard the sales history of a legal drug parcel to the plaintiff because the latter had not been informed that such behavior could jeopardize a application for alcohol license. At present, the DC law does not define "good character," says Bluestein ABRA

In the meantime, the division of the ABRA's execution is still in the process to investigate the complaint of June. Once the investigators have submitted their findings to the ABC Board of Directors, the agency will have 30 days to hold a "justification" hearing in which the Trump Hotel will have to justify why he should still hold an alcohol permit. Bluestein says that ABRA continues to investigate past cases to see if an alcohol license has already been revoked or denied because of the character of an owner

. ] (Except for the title, this story was not published by the NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)