Lawsuit targets president
Restaurant owners say Trump is using his position to hurt their business and help his.
WASHINGTON — The owners of a Washington wine bar and restaurant have sued President Trump for unfair competition, saying he is using the power of the presidency to lure business to his luxury hotel near the White House.
The action, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, is the latest legal attempt to pressure Trump over the unprecedented conf licts presented by his worldwide business holdings, including the Trump International Hotel in the historic Post Office Pavilion that Trump is leasing from the federal government.
Trump’s hotel and its restaurants are a hot spot for lobbyists and foreign diplomats and others looking to buy favor with the Trump administration, according to the owners of Cork restaurant and their lawyers, who spoke to reporters Thursday.
“Look, we all know that Washington, D.C., is a company town,” said Khalid Pitts, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife. “Why wouldn’t they go to a place that most pleases the president of the United States?”
Pitts said that his restaurant, 1½ miles from Trump’s hotel, has lost business recently, though he offered no specific examples. He acknowledged that his 70-seat restaurant also faces tough competition from newer eateries in his neighborhood.
Before the election, the legal complaint says, the government of Azerbaijan had an event at Cork; after Trump won, the Azerbaijan Embassy held a holiday party at Trump’s hotel.
Pitts, a social activist and former candidate for City Council in Washington, owns the business with his wife, Diane Gross, a Democratic lawyer who once worked as counsel for former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.
The suit is not a political attack on Trump, they said. “This is about something that is patently unfair,” Gross said.
The lawsuit is not seeking financial damages, but rather a court order requiring Trump to end the conflict.
Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, called the lawsuit “a publicity stunt completely lacking in merit.”
Michael Short, a White House spokesman, declined to comment.
Before taking office in January, Trump said he was stepping aside from his business and turning management over to his sons. But he has retained ownership. His lawyers say it would be unfair to expect Trump to sell off his worldwide real estate holdings.
The lawsuit charges that the president is now in conflict with a clause in his lease that says federal officials may not participate in or benefit from the deal. Since his inauguration, in effect, Trump has become his own landlord.
The General Services Administration, which manages the property, has not yet addressed the question of whether it considers Trump is in violation of the lease. Steven L. Schooner, a former government lawyer and ethics expert who is part of the Cork legal team, accused the agency of “a total abdication of responsibility.”
Noting that the lease calls for regular renegotiations over payments, Schooner said the GSA’s employees were now in the “impossible position” of negotiating with the sons of the president — who appoints their agency head.
Another lawsuit contends that the hotel could invite violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which forbids federal officials from accepting payments from foreign governments. Trump’s lawyers said they would donate any “profits” from foreign governments to the treasury. But Schooner, calling that idea “nonsensical,” says he hasn’t heard of any such payments.