POLITICAL
Suing chef, Trump gives deposition
New York — President-elect Donald Trump gave a videotaped deposition on Thursday for a lawsuit stemming from a clash with a celebrity restaurateur at his new Washington hotel. It was a rare legal proceeding for a president-elect or sitting president that highlights the legal woes that could follow Trump to the Oval Office.
Trump sat for an hour at Trump Tower to give testimony in a lawsuit he filed against Jose Andres after the chef canceled plans to open a Spanishthemed restaurant at the hotel. Andres pulled out after Trump, in declaring his candidacy for president, called some Mexican immigrants “rapists” and said some were bringing drugs and crime to the United States.
Celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian also backed out of plans to open a restaurant in the hotel in July 2015, citing Trump’s statements about Mexican immigrants. A lawsuit against the Food Network’s Iron Chef and “Chopped” judge followed and is ongoing.
Separately, The Washington Post reported Wednesday that two businesses that worked on the hotel filed liens on the property saying they had not been fully paid.
Texas GOP unveils bathroom bill
Austin, Texas — Top Texas Republicans are eager to bring a fight that sparked upheaval and business boycotts in North Carolina to the country’s largest conservative state, unveiling Thursday a bill that would ban transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice.
The “Texas Privacy Act” requires all Texas residents to use the bathroom or locker room according to the gender on their birth certificates and prohibits local governments from passing ordinances designed to protect gay rights in public restrooms and other “intimate settings.”
Texas’ largest business lobbying group says approving the measure and other popular antigay rights proposals could cost the state up to $8.5 billion and 100,000plus jobs. North Carolina’s law, which went into effect last year, caused corporations, entertainers and NCAA sporting events to back out to avoid being seen as endorsing discrimination — potentially costing the state billions in lost revenue. Despite that fallout, a Virginia lawmaker has introduced a similar bill this week.
Ethics probe of cabinet pick sought
Washington — Top Senate Democrats said Thursday that the House ethics office should investigate whether stock sales by a congressman who is now one of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks broke any laws.
The Democrats cited a Wall Street Journal report last month that Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) had traded over $300,000 worth of shares in health care companies over the past four years while pushing legislation that might affect those stocks’ values. Trump wants Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services.