General

Trump inaugural committee cancels event, gets sued, reinstates it

Here’s a small preview of how difficult things could become if president-elect Trump does not divest completely from his holdings or put them in a blind trust.

You see, the 58th presidential inaugural committee is, theoretically, a completely separate entity from Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The committee shouldn’t have had any authority over what contracts the hotel entered into, but it acted as if it did — much to the cost and dismay of the organizers of the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast.

The prayer breakfast is an interfaith event, with invitees attending from around the world. The minister who organized the breakfast made the arrangements in September, booking the presidential ballroom at the Trump International Hotel, where many other events surrounding the inauguration are, naturally, being held. She paid in full. In advance.

Everything was moving forward satisfactorily until December, when the presidential inaugural committee learned that the ballroom had been reserved for the morning of the inauguration for something other than an “officially sanctioned event.” Then, according to the minister, the committee instructed the hotel to cancel its contract for the prayer breakfast, which it did in a Dec. 28 letter.

The sudden cancellation played havoc with the minister’s plans. Guests canceled, a freeze was put on new attendees, and the minister was forced to incur additional costs as she scrambled to find a new event room for the prayer breakfast with only three weeks to go.

In her complaint for tortious interference with contract, the minister claims she also “suffered embarrassment and a loss of credibility for her ministry and standing in the Christian community in America and other countries around the world” and, as a result, she suffered and continues to suffer severe emotional anguish.

The inaugural committee has now changed its mind and the Trump International has reinstated the contract. The Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast will indeed be held at the hotel on the morning of Jan. 20, and according to its website it is sold out.

The organizing minister still believes the inaugural committee intentionally induced the hotel to breach its contract with her, which it should answer for. She is seeking at least $1 million in damages.

Tue Aug 28, 7:16pm