Donald Trump golf course could lose alcohol licence
25 October 2019, 08:22
One of President Donald Trump's golf courses could lose its alcohol licence after it served a drunk man who was then involved in a fatal car crash.
Mr Trump's National Course in Colts Neck, New Jersey, is set to have its alcohol licence revoked in the next 30 days, according to US media reports.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal's office has charged the club with serving too much alcohol to an already intoxicated man, Andrew Halder, who was involved in a fatal collision after leaving the course in 2015.
They have 30 days to contest what would be a financially damaging blow to the site, which also acts as a wedding venue, after receiving the letter on 21 October.
If the charge is successful, the club has the right to appeal the decision or to have its licence reinstated in two years' time.
Two charges in the documents sent by the attorney general state the licence suspension would last for a combined 25 days, but it adds that it could last longer.
Deputy Attorney General Andrew Sapolnick wrote: "(Due) to the aggravating circumstances in this case, the Division will seek revocation of the license based upon the total circumstances."
It goes on to say the club sold more than just one beer on its courses which violated its licence.
Alcohol sales are a vital source of revenue for golf clubs in the US, according to the chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association, Jay Karen.
He said: "Golf is a combination of sport and leisure and alcohol finds itself at the crossroads of that. Just the golf itself is not a high-profit-margin business [so alcohol becomes] pretty important to the whole operation from a profit standpoint."
Halder pled guilty to a vehicular homicide charge in 2018 in which his father was killed. He was sentenced to three years' probation.
The US President has two other clubs in the state situated in Bedminster, where the President spends his summers, and Pine Hill.