Here's Why Trump’s NJ Golf Clubs Can Keep Selling Alcohol For Now— Despite His Felony Conviction

Forbes Breaking News

Two of Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf clubs are still serving alcohol nearly a year after the state opted not to renew their liquor licenses amid questions over whether his felony conviction disqualifies him under state law. Forbes staff writer Zach Everson joins Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2025/05/03/trump-liquor-license-new-jersey-felony/

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes.

00:06Joining me now is my Forbes colleague, staff writer, Zach Everson.

00:10Zach, thanks so much for joining me.

00:12My pleasure, Brittany.

00:14You have somewhat of an update on a story you and I have talked about before.

00:18You've reported that President Donald Trump's felony convictions

00:22could impact his ability to sell alcohol.

00:24So first of all, explain why the liquor selling could be in jeopardy.

00:31Well, as most people probably know at this point,

00:34Donald Trump, our president, is a convicted felon,

00:37having been found guilty of 34 counts in New York.

00:41And New Jersey law, along with several other states,

00:46bars people who've been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude,

00:50is the phrase, from holding liquor licenses.

00:52And the state, New Jersey, defines that as a crime that could be convicted of,

00:59that could be accompanied by a year or more in prison.

01:02And the offenses for which Trump was convicted could have gotten him four years per count.

01:07Now, obviously, they got him nothing.

01:08So that raised the question,

01:10has Donald Trump been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude?

01:15And New Jersey Attorney General's office, about a year ago,

01:18decided that this was worth looking into.

01:20They, instead of renewing the applications for two of Trump's clubs in the state,

01:27they rejected them and instead issued interim permits

01:32that would hold over until they had a hearing

01:35where the onus was going to be on the clubs themselves

01:37to explain how they still qualified for these licenses.

01:41So last time you checked, the Trump clubs in New Jersey are selling alcohol.

01:47So how exactly are they doing so?

01:50Right.

01:51They've been extended repeatedly.

01:53You know, Donald Trump's sentencing got kicked down the road.

01:57And then they kind of just sat on it.

01:59You know, it was supposed to expire on April 30th,

02:01which is why I looked into this now.

02:03Set a little reminder there for, I think it was like April 29th,

02:06to reach out to New Jersey and find out what's out.

02:08And they explained that they have extended them another two months until the end of June.

02:13They did not provide any reasons.

02:15It was that was the extent of their statement that they've extended them two more months.

02:19And so something that happened last summer is the Supreme Court issued a ruling

02:23that gave former presidents broad immunity when it came to criminal activity.

02:28So how exactly did that impact his ability to sell booze?

02:32Can someone right now who's perhaps sipping on a drink in a New Jersey club of the presidents

02:37thank him for that?

02:39Either.

02:39You know, it certainly didn't hurt.

02:42You know, I think we would have we might have seen New Jersey act if Donald Trump had actually

02:46gotten a sentence beyond it just basically being, OK, he's guilty and we're not going to do anything.

02:53But we don't know for sure.

02:54New Jersey has not shared any sort of rationale as for why they continue to kick Buchanan down

03:00the road.

03:02And so what about the Trump Organization?

03:03How exactly are they responding?

03:06Does the president himself I mean, does he hold these liquor licenses?

03:11So the Trump Organization is confident that the liquor permits will be extended.

03:16There'll be no interruption of service.

03:18The Trump Organization has made an argument that because the liquor licenses are not in

03:23the president's name, they don't apply.

03:26New Jersey decided that was not the case.

03:28We laid out an explanation showing that the organization, the LLC that the liquor license

03:35name is in through about six or seven other companies and a revocable trust of which Donald

03:41Trump is the sole beneficiary and sole provider of assets all flows back to him.

03:46So New Jersey said because he is the underlying beneficiary of all of this, that, yes, we are

03:52interested in pursuing this.

03:54So they've they in other states, that explanation was enough.

03:58I think it was California told me liquor licenses aren't in his name.

04:02They're in Don Jr.'s name.

04:03They've got some LLC.

04:04I responded saying, yes.

04:07He's the beneficiary of all of this, and they just didn't pursue it.

04:12So New Jersey has been the only state that I know of that has actually pursued that.

04:15And, you know, not just taken the corporate structure and said, oh, it's OK.

04:20It's, you know, it's not his.

04:23So this could have been his only punishment, really, for his 34 felony convictions, right?

04:31Yeah.

04:32I mean, I can't I couldn't think of any.

04:33There could be other ones.

04:34You know, there's certainly, you know, a whole bunch of states have restrictions on what

04:39convicted felons are allowed to do.

04:40But this far and away, to me, seems to be the biggest possible repercussion that he

04:45could still have.

04:46Thirty four felony counts of falsifying business records.

04:50And, you know, they could four years in jail, five thousand dollar fine for each count.

04:54And it looks like the biggest possible sanction he could face is losing his liquor licenses

05:00at two bars and even that or two clubs in New Jersey.

05:02And even that where you're down the road and nothing's happened.

05:05I know you've talked to the ABC surrounding other states exactly and what they're doing

05:10with President Trump's liquor licenses.

05:13Why is New Jersey seemingly being the strictest?

05:17It's an excellent question.

05:19You know, it's it's the circumstances are very similar in many of these states.

05:23I think there were five states in which he has properties that have liquor licenses.

05:27I contacted all of them when I first looked into this about a year ago.

05:29And to the point that many of the states even use similar language, moral turpitude is something

05:36that shows up in several different state codes and they just swept it away.

05:43And I don't know why I could guess several reasons.

05:47You know, we saw it here in D.C. a few years ago.

05:50There was a group that was protesting Trump's liquor license at his hotel, which is no longer

05:55here, but saying that there had a similar requirement that you had to be of morally strong character.

06:02And they argued that this was before the felony convictions, but they argued that some of his

06:05previous behavior meant that he did not have, you know, he should not have qualified for

06:10the liquor license.

06:12And we're talking D.C., which is a very liberal place.

06:14You know, Democratic mayors get elected here in the general election with like 90 percent of

06:18the vote.

06:19And the D.C.

06:21ABC just got rid of it like they didn't want anything to do with it.

06:23I suspect it's an issue and that if you think it through, there are probably many, many

06:30establishments in the state or jurisdiction that have given liquor licenses to people who's

06:36a little bit morally squishy.

06:39And, you know, if they start going down that road here, it might open the door to a whole

06:45bunch of other places losing their liquor license or objections about their liquor licenses.

06:50And then you've also got the fact, you know, New Jersey made its decision to look into these

06:55licenses when Donald Trump was a private citizen.

06:58You know, since then, he has been elected president and that might be part of the calculus

07:02as well.

07:03But again, they haven't commented at all.

07:06So these New Jersey clubs have that temporary extension.

07:09What specifically are you looking at for in the coming months?

07:11Whether it gets extended again, you know, we're seeing June 30th is the date for which

07:18all liquor licenses, I believe, in New Jersey are get renewed permanently.

07:24So, you know, it's they're back on to being part of that process, along with all of the

07:28other venues out there that can serve liquor.

07:30So it'll be interesting to see what happens if they go ahead and give them the permanent

07:34one, if they bother to hold the hearing.

07:36You know, really don't know here, but I will absolutely be following up come June 29th.

07:42And we will absolutely be booking you come June 30th for a conversation and an update

07:47here.

07:48I will be waiting with bated breath.

07:50Zach Everson, thank you so much.

07:52My pleasure.

07:53I hope I can turn that article around in the day.

07:55You've put some pressure on me.

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