D.C. Restaurant Suing Trump Over Unfair Competition
Washington D.C. restaurant owner says that they are facing unfair competition because of Donald Trump’s continued affiliation with government-owned Old Post Office building that Trump operates the Trump International Hotel.
The owners of Cork Wine Bar, Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross, filed a lawsuit alleging unfair competition against Donald Trump and the Trump International Hotel on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges that Trump’s affilation with the government-owned property puts them at a competitive disadvantage.
The attorney for Cork Wine Bar says that government officials, lobbyists, foreign dignitaries and others seeking political influence “feel pressure” or an “obligation” to frequent the hotel.
“If they have a party to book, they’re going to book it there first, whether to gain influence with the president, to gain influence with the administration,” Rome says. “And he shows up there on weekends, so you get personal face time by going there. It seems to us to be a clear situation in which he’s using his office of the president to get a financial gain at the expense of local businesses.”
The restaurant says that they have seen a significant decrease in business since Donald Trump’s inauguration. “It’s just that there’s more business that could be going to them and it’s not,” he says. “We feel like every place in town now is second place if you want to do business with the government in any way.”
As part of their legal argument, attorneys for Cork Wine Bar say that there is a clause in the hotel’s lease which says no elected officials can hold any interest in the lease.
“It’s our position that the Trump organization and Trump himself are using those conflicts of interests to get an unfair advantage against DC businesses,” Rome says.
