A pair of Democratic lawmakers are petitioning the Obama administration to block GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump from showcasing his name on the businessman’s new hotel in Washington, D.C.
In a letter to the Department of Interior and General Services Administration (GSA), Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) requested that Trump be prevented from having his name “prominently displayed” on the newly refurbished Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, blocks from the White House.
“Trump’s recent and repeated remarks disparaging women, Mexican-Americans, and other Latinos are hateful, divisive and completely inaccurate,” the pair wrote to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and recently confirmed GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth in a letter dated Aug. 13.
{mosads}”We understand that the Department of Interior rightly prohibits the display of racist or insensitive emblems on lands it controls. In accordance with this policy and in keeping with the Department’s recent efforts to bar the Washington Redskins’ logo on public lands, we urge you to use all available authorities under current law to prevent the Trump name from being prominently displayed at the new hotel,” they wrote.
A spokesperson for the Interior referred inquiries to GSA, which is leasing the property to Trump. A spokesperson for the GSA said the agency was in the process of responding to the lawmakers and did not provide further details. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
It is not the first time the Trump hotel, slated to open in 2016, has drawn scrutiny for its signage. Last month, some raised objections to a sign outside the building resembling the candidate’s campaign logo with “Coming 2016” over the word “Trump.”
The real estate tycoon’s D.C. hotel was also thrown into the news when celebrity chef José Andrés announced last month he would back out of a Spanish restaurant project in the hotel, over Trump’s controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants, prompting Trump to retaliate with a $10 million lawsuit for damages.
The lawmakers’ letter was first reported by the Phoenix Business Journal.