Mayor Miro Weinberger has concluded it would not be prudent to take Donald Trump to court over the presidential candidate’s outstanding bill from Burlington.
Trump came to the Queen City on January 7 and delivered a speech at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. He drew massive crowds of supporters and protesters. The campaign invited 20,000 people to a venue that holds 1,400.
Corralling the droves of people was costly, and Weinberger sent the Trump campaign a bill for $8,500 for the additional police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel that it required. Trump, who has since become the presumptive Republican nominee, did not deign to respond. Nor did he return subsequent calls and emails from Weinberger’s administration.
In a statement released to the media Wednesday, five months after the event, Weinberger said: “After careful investigation into the First Amendment and other legal considerations, we have come to the conclusion that it would be difficult to hold Donald Trump legally liable for the costs the city incurred to make his January rally in Burlington a safe and successful event. Thus, it would not be cost-effective for the city to pursue collections remedies through the courts.”
But, the mayor added: “Paying the invoice remains the right and honorable thing for Mr. Trump to do.”
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I wonder if the City will bill Bernie for his rally today?
Mr Trump paid the Flynn for use of the building..It’s not Mr Trump’s fault that the protesters showed up and were yelling and swearing..the Trump supporters were peaceful.. Now Whinnyberger are you going to make Sanders for for his Rallies.. bet you won’t..
I don’t support Trump whatsoever, but this seems petty. Regardless of whether you agree with them, every candidate has the right to say their piece publicly, and people who try to interfere with that are in the wrong. To charge him for the police and so on is essentially to say that no candidate should speak in territory where they are not popular, or else they’re responsible for the backlash. That’s just not right.
Curious timing the day after Hillary’s win in California and other states. Mr. Weinberger is a Hillary supporter like his upstream donor network. It’s his choice to cheer for the away team, but the position of mayor still requires a degree of maturity, not petty insults akin to the person Weinberger is attacking.
It IS Mr. Trump’s fault that his campaign handed out 20 000 tickets to a 1 400 seat venue. That was the height of irresponsibility. And for the information of Trump supporters posting here, the First Amendment protects political protests as well as political rallies. Trump supporters may be accustomed to thinking that only they are “real Americans” and that only thry have the right to speak while everyone else has the right to shut up, but it ain’t so.
@ A Montreal Paul, everyone has a right to protest, no one is saying they don’t (as long as they are Americans and not here illegally, my opinion) BUT many think they have to protest with violence, swearing..that isn’t right.. whats wrong with being civil??.. some of my friends were there and they where called names, and they never said a word..It’s a fact that a lot of protesters are being paid to go to these rallies and be violent.. I’m sure that isn’t the case here in Vermont..It’s our right to protest but in a peaceful civil matter…
Donna, seriously. Your idea that Protesters need to be payed to swear and jeer at Trump supporters is ludacris. And the fact is, he handed out 20,000 tickets. That’s just one of the main contributing reasons they had to manage crowds and hordes of people who showed up to a venue for 1,400. Also, let’s not forget that only “supporters” were allowed in the flynn, read some first account witnesses who were thrown out of the event for having and free mind. Fucking spineless manchild “speaks his mind” but can’t handle a couple people smart enough to retort his foolish racism.
@Smilescgee yup leave it to a liberal democrat to swear, also the so called “witnesses” were Sanders supporters were made that they couldn’t get in to protest.. Also if you pull your head out of the sand you would know that Soros has paid people to protest at Trumps rallies.. I never said that it was in Vt.. So unless you can take your head out of the sand SU!!!!
Note that the article points out the event drew massive crowds. The liberals and progressives should consider that there are conservatives in Vermont and not play small ball by sending bills like this one. It’s ok to consider opposing views.
Topeople saying “Bernie should pay for his rallies” etc., I don’t think you understand; he was not invoiced for his rallies because (in VT) he has used public spaces and hasn’t closed down Main Street or required the involvement of dozens of additional police officers, cruisers, and canine units. And he *did* have to pay at Essex for the Super Tuesday rally, and I believe that bill has been paid. It very much *is* Drumpf’s fault that he gave out so many tickets. Also, he is (according to him) worth $billions, so he should probably just cough up a couple $thousand and not look like such a carpetbagger. That said, it is also true that *way* more protesters showed up than Drumpf supporters, and that put some pressure on the security.
If Trump wanted to dump a bunch of money into a tall downtown project, Weinberger would work with him in a second.
Got any cheese to go with that whine?