The last time President-elect Donald Trump was scheduled to be deposed in a lawsuit, he settled instead, agreeing to pay Trump University plaintiffs $25 million. But in the breach-of-contract lawsuit that could see Trump deposed during the first week of January, Trump is the plaintiff, suing celebrity chef José Andrés for $10 million for pulling out of an agreement to open a restaurant in Trump's new Washington, D.C., hotel. Andrés argued that Trump's inflammatory comments about immigrants would make it impossible for him to run a successful restaurant. Fellow restaurateur Geoffrey Zakarian also dropped plans to open a restaurant in the hotel, citing similar reasons, and Trump sued him, too.
In court filings last week, Trump's attorneys asked for the deposition to take place in New York, not Washington, due to security concerns, and Andrés' legal team agreed. They did not accede, however, to Trump's request that the deposition be limited to two hours and bar questions covered in previous depositions. "It seems dubious that the president-elect cannot be afforded adequate security in the capital of the United States, but defendants are willing to accommodate that demand," wrote Andrés' attorneys. "Defendants cannot, however, accept Trump LLC's attempt to hamstring defendant's questioning of the man who directed the bringing of this lawsuit."
Zakarian's case is still pending, too, and his lawyers and Trump's have a court date on Jan. 3. Trump takes the presidential oath of office on Jan. 20.
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