Steven Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust is looking for ways to end its relationship with the Trump Organization. The news does not come as a surprise as ever since the January 6th attack on the U.S. capitol which was edged on by the former President many of Donald Trump’s former friends and business partners have been trying to extricate themselves from any dealings with people connected to the Trump family.
Mr. Roth has been described as both a friend and a supporter of Donald Trump’s. But now he wants out of their business relationship. Jared Kushner’s own company Cadre as well as his family’s Kushner Companies have reportedly lost out on a number of deals recently due to their connection to Donald Trump.
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Much has been reported about the future finances of Mr. Trump and his businesses. The New York Times last summer uncovered his long sought after tax records. These showed that Mr. Trump will soon need to make good on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of debt. In the past Trump would use his reputation as a tool for covering his debts, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, threatening a bankruptcy to extort creditors into refinancing his loans.
But now the people know that the emperor has no clothes. The former President’s reputation, especially after his insistence that the election was somehow stolen from him, his sore loser behavior in refusing to cooperate and effect a smooth transition to his predecessor, and both his behavior and his words even after the January 6th riot, is now in tatters.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Vornado is exploring ways to end a lucrative partnership with the former president’s real-estate company. Citing sources close to the matter the paper said that if Vornado were to go ahead with this plan then it would leave the Trump Organization in trouble with two of its most valuable assets.
These are an office tower located at 1290 Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and one at 555 California Street in San Francisco’s financial district. Vornado was said to have tried to sell out its shares in the two buildings last year for $5 billion. Vornado has the controlling 70 percent stake in these buildings. It will need cover $950 million in debt on the New York tower and another $543 million in debt on the San Francisco tower, by the end of 2021. So the firm also has a financial interest in selling.
The move would require Trump to unload these assets. But this would at least give him some cash to cover part of his organization’s vast amount of debt.
Donald Trump commented about the situation to the Journal saying, “Vornado has been an excellent partner so far and we expect that to continue.” And the former President also continued to insist that he did not have so much debt as had been reported.
