Trump deposed in celebrity chef lawsuit
President-elect Donald Trump completed a deposition Thursday in his breach-of-contract lawsuit against a celebrity chef who refused to open a restaurant in Trump’s new Washington hotel.
Trump sued José Andrés after the chef scrapped plans to build the restaurant inside Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House. Andrés has said he pulled out of the project because of Trump’s disparaging remarks about immigrants.
{mosads}The deposition had been on the books for about a month, but incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters earlier today that he could not confirm whether it would go on as scheduled.
Still, Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten confirmed Thursday in a statement to reporters that Trump had in fact been deposed.
“The deposition was completed earlier today and lasted just over one hour as the case is fairly straight forward,” Garten said in the statement, according to Fox News.
“In short, the parties entered into a valid and enforceable lease, which the tenant clearly breached by walking out and failing to perform its obligations, thereby entitling the landlord to recover damages in the form of unpaid rent, cost of build out, lost profits and other expenses,” the statement reads.
Andres, who owns a 18 restaurants brands across the country, pulled out in July 2015, citing Trump’s “recent statements disparaging immigrants” that make it “impossible” for him to open a successful restaurant and cater to both his guest and his majority-Hispanic staff.
Trump’s hotel, which opened in October, replaced Andrés’s outlet with chef David Burke’s BLT Prime restaurant.
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