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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Cocktail of the summer: the Hugo spritzThe Week Recommends The refreshing elderflower-based tipple is giving Aperol a run for its money
-
How the Erin Patterson mushroom trial caught the world's attentionIn the Spotlight Australian woman who laced beef wellington with deadly mushrooms found guilty of murder
-
The failed bombings of 21/7The Explainer The unsuccessful attacks 'unnerved' London and led to a tragic mistake
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
