As Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential primary with outlandish statements, two Democratic members of Congress have launched an attempt to keep Trump’s name off of the hotel he is building in the historic Old Post Office in Washington, D.C.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewel, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) wrote last week that Trump’s “repulsive speech has no place in our public discourse,” the Washington Business Journal reported on Tuesday.
“Trump’s recent and repeated remarks disparaging women, Mexican-Americans, and other Latinos are hateful, divisive and completely inaccurate,” they wrote.
Gallego and Cardenas argued that because the hotel will sit on land leased by the General Services Administration and because the clock tower on the Old Post Office will still be run by the National Park Service, the government has the power to keep Trump’s name off of the hotel. The congressmen wrote that the government “prohibits the display of racist or insensitive emblems on lands it controls” and noted that the government kept the Washington Redskins’ name off of public lands.
After Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” famed chef Jose Andres canceled plans to open a new restaurant in Trump’s forthcoming hotel, prompting Trump to sue Andres for a breach of contract.
Read the full letter from Gallego and Cardenas:
Letter to Sec. Jewell and Acting Admin. Roth Re Trump by Congressman Ruben Gallego
