US election: Let’s meet next to that sex shop …

A briefing by Donald Trump’s lawyers was mocked when it emerged the venue was not a plush hotel but a suburban garden centre next to a sex shop.

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia on Saturday. Picture: AFP

It was billed as a major press event at Philadelphia’s Four Seasons but a briefing by Donald Trump’s lawyers was mocked when it emerged the venue was not the plush hotel but a suburban garden centre next to a sex shop.

The confusion began when Mr Trump took to Twitter while golfing on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) to announce an imminent “lawyers” news conference at the Four Seasons, Philadelphia. The President quickly clarified saying the “big press conference” would be at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a family business between a crematorium and an adult book store on the outskirts of the city.

The event — in which the President’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, pressed Mr Trump’s claims about voter fraud in the election last week — featured on Saturday Night Live, and wags took to social media with their own wisecracks and memes.

“I could write jokes for 800 years and I’d never think of something funnier than Trump booking the Four Seasons for his big presser, and it turning out to be the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot between a dildo store and a crematorium,” Emmy-nominated comedy writer Zack Bornstein tweeted.

“The real hero today is whoever answered the phone at Four Seasons Landscaping and offered no clarification whatsoever until it was too late,” added ­author Geraldine DeRuiter.

Mr Trump’s tweets also prompted the hotel to distance itself from the President’s event.

“To clarify, President Trump’s press conference will NOT be held at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia,” management tweeted.“It will be held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping — no relation with the hotel.”

The press conference got going the very moment US news networks were announcing that Mr Trump had lost the election after four days of ballot counting.

Mr Giuliani, informed of the new, responded: “Don’t be ridiculous.” “Trump won’t concede. Networks don’t get to decide elections.”

AFP