a2 eZ re the washington post.saturday, april 4 , 2020
correctionsl T he caption for the cover photo
in this weekend’s Washington
Post Magazine, w hich w as printed
in advance, m isstates t he name of
the f irm that provided the image.
It i s Clark R ealty Capital, n ot
Clark Reality Capital.
l A n April 2 A-section article
about early data showing that
social distancing is working i n the
fight against the c oronavirus
incorrectly said t hat Washington
was o ne of the f irst two states,
along with California, to issue
stay-at-home orders. As t he story
noted, officials in Washington
urged p eople to stay h ome in
m id-March, but t he state’s official
order came March 23. B y then,
other states were also i ssuing
orders. In a ddition, a photo
caption with the article said t hat
San Francisco has 6 million
residents. I t has about 9 00,000.
l A March 29 Business article
about conservatives reversing
course to embrace federal
assistance programs amid the
coronavirus pandemic misstated
the y ear that the Affordable Care
Act was p assed. It w as passed and
signed in 2 010, n ot 2009.
the Washington Post is committed to
correcting errors that appear in the
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in case you missed itsome reports that you may have
missed. read more at
washingtonpost.com.Democrats’ convention
delayed until August
Democrats delayed their
presidential nominating
convention Thursday from July
until the week of Aug. 17 to
increase the likelihood that the
party can still hold an in-person
gathering in Milwaukee amid the
coronavirus pandemic. T he
Republican convention will start
in Charlotte on Aug. 24.
washingtonpost.com/national
Obama-era mileage
rules rolled back
The Trump administration
released its far-reaching rollback
of Obama-era tailpipe pollution
standards Tuesday. Instead of
improving fuel efficiency by
about 5 percent a year, the new
standards require a 1.5 percent
improvement through 2 026.
washingtonpost.com/national
U.S. offers path to
relief for Venezuela
The Trump administration
said Tuesday it would lift tough
sanctions against Venezuela if
both President Nicolás Maduro
and his political nemesis,
opposition leader Juan Guaidó,
step aside and agree to a
transitional government guided
by both the ruling socialists and
opposition lawmakers.
washingtonpost.com/world
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BY JOSHUA PARTLOW,
JONATHAN O’CONNELL
AND DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLDThe Trump Organization has
laid off or furloughed about 1,
employees at hotels in the United
States and Canada as the corona-
virus pandemic inflicts further
pain on the president’s private
business.
With most of President
Trump’s hotels and clubs closed
amid stay-at-home orders around
the world, the Trump Organiza-
tion has responded by slashing
costs, much like other companies
in the hospitality and tourism
industries. The Trump Organiza-
tion has laid off or furloughed
employees at hotels in New York,
the District of Columbia, Miami,
Chicago, Las Vegas, Vancouver
and Honolulu, according to pub-
lic filings and people familiar
with the properties, including
union officials.
Seventeen of Trump’s clubs
and hotels have closed. The re-
mainder of Trump properties are
operating at a fraction of their
normal capacity: hotels running
with restaurants closed, golf
clubs operating with clubhouses
shut down, and golfers warned
not to share carts or touch the
flagsticks.
All told, the closed properties
generated an average of $650,
in revenue for Trump per day,
according to Trump’s past finan-
cial disclosures.
That economic strain has
pushed Trump Organization offi-
cials to inquire about possible
relief, at least temporarily, from
the company’s financial obliga-
tions at one of its properties.
In Palm Beach County, Fla., the
Trump Organization has not paid
rent of $54,534.25 that was due
April 1 on land it leases from the
county government for the
Trump International Golf Club
West Palm Beach, a county repre-
sentative said Friday.
The Trump Organization said
it has until April 10 to make the
monthly payment without penal-
ty.
“Because payment has not be-
come due, and in light of Gover-
nor’s DeSantis’ executive order
shutting down businesses
throughout the State of Florida as
a result of the COVID 19 pandem-
ic, the County advised us to re-
frain from making payment until
they have finalized their policy
for the handling of their numer-
ous leases,” Alan Garten, a Trump
Organization executive, said in a
statement. “A s soon as the County
finalizes its guidance, we will, of
course, fully and timely complywith its directives as well as con-
tinue to comply with the require-
ments of the lease.”
Palm Beach County officials
did not respond to a question
about Garten’s comment that the
company was advised not to
make the payment.
The West Palm Beach golf club
sits on county land, and the
Trump Organization pays
$995,000 per year for two leases
that pertain to one 18-hole and
one nine-hole course, according
to county officials. No monthly
payment had been received on
the 18-hole lease, which is admin-
istered by the county airports
department, said Nicole Ferris, a
county spokeswoman. She did
not respond to questions about
the second rent payment, of
$33,804.88, that also was due
April 1.
On March 25 — the same day
that Trump’s Palm Beach golf club
closed — Ed Raymundo, director
of finance for the Trump Organi-zation’s Florida properties, wrote
an email to a Palm Beach County
government official asking how
the county intended to handle
“the required rent installment”
and suggested times were diffi-
cult for the club, according to a
copy of emails obtained as part of
a public-records request.
R aymundo wrote that DeSan-
tis’s executive order closing non-
essential bars and restaurants
had “resulted in the cancellation
of events and forced the Club to
close many of it’s amenities leav-
ing limited services available to
our members.”
“In addition, with many New
York-based members, the Gover-
nor’s most recent order requiring
individuals traveling from the tri-
state area to self-quarantine fur-
ther hampers our operation,”
Raymundo wrote. “Your direction
in this is greatly appreciated.”
On March 31, Ray Walter, depu-
ty director for real estate and
concessions with the Palm BeachCounty airports department,
wrote to Raymundo saying that
“we are unable to forgive rental”
but that a deferment may be
possible “on a short-term basis in
the midst of the current state of
closure” and that “it is critical for
us to keep the dialogue open.”
“I anticipate we will have more
direction in the coming days or
weeks,” Walter wrote to Raymun-
do.
He added that his department
“does not have delegated authori-
ty to waive conditions, therefore
resolution would need to be ap-
proved by the Board of County
Commissioners, and resolution
such as a short-term deferment
would need to be consistent with
all similarly-situated tenants.”
One county commissioner, Hal
Valeche, wrote in an email that
“the Commission has not dis-
cussed this or, to my knowledge,
been apprised of it, so no deci-
sions have been made.”
The next board meeting isscheduled for Tuesday.
As of Friday, 17 of Trump’s 24
clubs and hotels around the
world were closed. The latest to
close was Trump’s hotel in Van-
couver, Canada — which an-
nounced its closure Thursday.
Trump’s business partner in
that hotel, Joo Kim Tiah, said in
an email, “With what is happen-
ing in the world right now, no
hotel company or hotel is im-
mune or spared.”
Tiah said that 213 workers had
been laid off and 18 kept on, with
11 of those working reduced
hours.
In Chicago, the Trump hotel
told investors on Friday that it
had made the “heartbreaking de-
cision to” l ay off two-thirds of its
staff, r equired the remaining staff
to work on two to three days a
week, and suspended 401(k) con-
tributions for all.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Trump businesses lay o≠ over 1,000, seek Fla. rent relief
alex Brandon/assoCiated Press
President Trump’s motorcade is seen receding within the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach property in Florida on March 8.BY SEUNG MIN KIMPresident Trump is tapping a
young district judge and former
clerk to now-Supreme Court Jus-
tice Brett M. Kavanaugh to fill a
vacancy on the powerful U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit.
The nomination of Justin
Walker, 37, is almost certain to
trigger a vigorous battle over his
qualifications to serve on the
nation’s second-most influential
court, which is often at the apex
of key cases involving executive
power and federal regulations.
The American Bar Association
had deemed Walker not qualified
for his current post as judge for
the Western District of Kentucky,
where he has served for just over
five months.
But Walker’s nomination also
underscores the influence of Sen-
ate Majority Leader Mitch McCo-
nnell (R-Ky.) on the conservative
transformation of the federal ju-
diciary under Trump, to whom
McConnell has actively promot-
ed Walker behind the scenes.
“I think you cannot credibly
argue that Justin Walker is not a
judicial all-star,” McConnell said
in an interview with The Wash-
ington Post in advance of the
announcement Friday, ticking off
his academic and legal creden-
tials.
Chief among them are Walk-
er’s clerkships with former Su-
preme Court Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy and Kavanaugh during
his tenure on the D.C. Circuit.
Both Kennedy and Kavanaugh
privately recommended Walker
for the D.C. Circuit vacancy in
conversations with Trump, ac-
cording to a person familiar with
the calls who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity to speak freely.
Even more active was McCon-
nell. He knows Walker’s grandfa-ther and first met Walker when
he interviewed the future majori-
ty leader for an article for his
high school newspaper. McCon-
nell had previously recommend-
ed Walker for the Western Dis-
trict seat and in January, accom-
panied the judge to the Oval
Office to meet the president,
although that conversation
would ultimately veer to Trump’s
then-looming impeachment tri-
al.
Trump, McConnell recalled,
came away impressed with Walk-
er during the 15-minute conver-
sation and connected well with
him. Walker is the youngest n om-
inee to the D.C. Circuit since
1983, and the first from outside
Washington since 2005.
“I thought it might be a good
idea to go outside the Beltway”
for the D.C. vacancy, McConnell
said. “There are plenty of D.C.
lawyers that salivate over this
job.”
The close ties among McCon-
nell, Kavanaugh and Walker were
highlighted last month when the
majority leader returned home t o
Kentucky to attend Walker’s in-
vestiture in Louisville as Con-
gress wrestled with a second aid
package to combat the effects of
the coronavirus pandemic. Both
donning the traditional blackrobe of a judge, Kavanaugh swore
in his former clerk, who fervently
defended him in the media dur-
ing his contentious 2018 confir-
mation fight.
Walker conducted 162 media
interviews — including 3 5 ap-
pearances on Fox News, the pres-
ident’s favored network — de-
fending Kavanaugh and his char-
acter, according to the Leader-
ship Conference on Civil and
Human Rights, which opposed
Walker’s nomination to the dis-
trict court seat last year, c iting h is
ABA rating and “ideological de-
fense” of Kavanaugh.
Walker would fill a vacancy
being created by the retirement
of Judge Thomas B. Griffith, a
George W. Bush appointee who
indicated early last month that
he will retire in September.
Trump has had two picks con-
firmed to the influential appel-
late court: Gregory G. Katsas, the
president’s former deputy legal
counsel, and Neomi Rao, who
was Trump’s regulatory czar be-
fore her judicial nomination.
Demand Justice, a liberal ad-
vocacy group focused o n the judi-
ciary, has raised questions about
the circumstances surrounding
Griffith’s decision to leave the
bench because it came shortly
before reports that McConnellwas quietly reaching out to judg-
es on their plans to retire.
“The nomination of a Mitch
McConnell crony, who has been
rated unqualified by his peers, to
the second highest court in the
country is beyond suspicious,”
said the group’s chief counsel,
Christopher Kang, who worked
on judicial nominations in the
Obama White House. “We need
an immediate investigation into
whether McConnell manufac-
tured this vacancy by unethically
pressuring Judge Thomas Grif-
fith to retire now.”
The D.C. Circuit has ruled on
an array of cases directly involv-
ing Trump and his a genda — such
as access to his financial and tax
records, congressional subpoe-
nas and his administration’s p oli-
cies. Four of the current Supreme
Court justices previously served
on the D.C. Circuit — Kavanaugh,
as well as Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr., and Justices Clarence
Thomas and Ruth Bader Gins-
burg.
A graduate of Duke University
and Harvard Law School, Walker
has served as law professor at the
University of Louisville since- He is a member of the
Federalist Society, a powerful
network of conservative lawyers,
which has held an outsized influ-
ence on Trump’s judiciary strate-
gy and his picks.
The biggest m ark on his record
has been his “not qualified” rat-
ing from the nonpartisan Ameri-
can Bar Association, which told
the Senate that Walker did not
have the requisite courtroom ex-
perience to serve as a judge.
“Mr. Walker is less than 10
years out of law school, has never
tried a case, has never served as
co-counsel, and it’s not clear how
much of his 10 years has even
been spent practicing law,” Sen-
ate Minority Leader Charles E.
Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor
speech opposing his nomination.
Republicans have frequently
dismissed the ABA’s ratings of
Trump nominees. Walker was
confirmed on a party-line, 50-to-
41 vote in October.
Walker’s nomination to the
D.C. Circuit is already attracting
support from the constellation of
influential conservative figures
and groups who have engineered
a successful pipeline of judicial
confirmations under Trump.
In a n email to The Post, former
White House counsel Donald Mc-
Gahn, a pivotal architect of the
Trump administration’s judiciary
efforts earlier in the presidency,
called Walker an “outstanding
choice.”
“He has exceptional academic
credentials, clerked at the U.S.
Supreme Court, and has focused
his legal scholarship on precisely
the sort of issues that come be-
fore the D.C. Circuit,” McGahn
said. “Judge Walker fits the mold
of the president’s federal appel-
late court nominees, I applaud
his selection, and wish him a
speedy confirmation.”
Carrie Severino, president of
the deep-pocketed Judicial Crisis
Network, said the group is “pre-
pared to do whatever necessary”
to ensure Walker’s confirmation.
And the Article III Project, led by
Mike Davis, who was the chief
nominations counsel for the Sen-
ate Judiciary Committee during
the Kavanaugh confirmation
fight, will lead the outside effort
to get Walker confirmed.
For three years, McConnell has
moved at a rapid tempo to fill the
judicial openings inherited by
Trump after the G OP Senate lead-
er refused to act on dozens of
President Barack Obama’s nomi-
nees, most notably Supreme
Court nominee Merrick Garland,
who has served on the D.C. Cir-
cuit since 1997.
McConnell has vowed to leave
no vacancy behind as the presi-
dent faces reelection this Novem-
ber, and Senate Republicans face
the risk of losing control of the
chamber.
McConnell has paid particular
attention to the nation’s appel-
late courts, one step below the
Supreme Court where the vast
majority of cases stop. Trump has
51 circuit court appointees,
which translates to 1 out of every
4 appellate judges.
[email protected]Former Kavanaugh clerk tapped for D.C. Circuit
Justin Walker has served
just over five months as
a district judge in Ky.Melina Mara/the Washington Post
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fervently pushed
for the nomination of the young judge to the powerful court.