NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s company has gotten the green light to host a golf tournament in the Bronx sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, infuriating relatives of 9/11 victims already fuming over a similar event held at a Trump course in neighboring New Jersey last month.
The Trump Organization recently secured the permit from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to hold the women’s tournament at its Ferry Point course in Throgs Neck this October, a city official familiar with the matter confirmed to the Daily News on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The permit was first reported by The New York Times.
The Aramco Team Series tournament is in part bankrolled by the Saudi government, and the event’s title sponsor, Aramco, is the kingdom’s state-owned oil producer.
Word of the Ferry Point permit comes on the heels of Trump drawing a barrage of criticism from 9/11 families for hosting the LIV Golf Series, another Saudi-tied golf tournament, at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July.
U.S. intelligence has determined that Saudi government funding paved the way for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, and Brett Eagleson, founder of the 9/11 Justice, said both Trump and Adams should be ashamed if the Aramco event moves ahead.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re telling Mayor Adams not to bother to come to ground zero if he does not cancel this event, not to bother showing up to any ground zero or memorial events,” Eagleson, whose father died in the 9/11 attacks, told The News.
But Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, said the city had no choice but to approve the Ferry Point permit due to the terms of its contract with the Trump Organization.
“The city is obligated to follow the terms of the Trump Ferry license agreement and cannot unreasonably withhold approval of this tournament,” Paolucci said.
That explanation was cold comfort for Eagleson.
“If they can’t legally stop it, make a public statement they don’t support it,” he said. “This is just egregious and in your face in New York City.”
Asked for a response to Eagleson’s rebuke, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said, “While we disagree with the values of the Trump Organization, we cannot legally block their application.”
The Trump Organization’s application for the Aramco golf tournament permit was reviewed by the top echelons of Adams’ administration, with City Hall chief of staff Frank Carone holding meetings about the matter on April 25 and May 4, according to records released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.
Levy said Carone’s meetings on the Trump permit were “internal” and only involved other city government officials.
Dennis McGinley, whose brother died on the 89th floor of the South Tower after the hijackers crashed into the downtown Manhattan skyscrapers, said he felt a depressing sense of deja vu upon hearing of October’s Trump tournament in the Bronx.
“Here we go again,” McGinley said. “It’s even closer to ground zero than Bedminster was. Another punch to the gut. The hits keep coming. Is anyone listening?”
A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not return a request for comment Friday.
The Trump Organization’s control of the Ferry Point course became a flash point last year, when former Mayor Bill de Blasio moved to terminate all city contracts with the former president’s company, citing his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But a judge ruled this past April that the city had wrongfully terminated the Trump Organization’s contract and allowed the company to keep running the golf course. De Blasio succeeded in terminating several other Trump contracts in the city, though, including the company’s longtime management of the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park.
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