Serious gripe or sour grapes?
A Washington wine bar and restaurant sued Donald Trump and the company operating the capital’s Trump International Hotel, contending he’s got an unfair advantage in luring foreign dignitaries, business leaders and organizations to stay, dine and book events there to curry favor with the president.
That drawing card isn’t only pulling business away from the Cork Wine Bar, about 1 1/2 miles (2.4 kilometers) away, but also violates terms of the hotel’s lease with the U.S. General Services Administration, which owns the underlying property, the wine bar claimed in the lawsuit filed Thursday.
“Reading between the lines isn’t that tough here,” an unnamed Washington lobbyist was quoted in the complaint in a Washington DC court, saying senior staff hang out in the lobby bar. “They are seeing who spends time and money there and who books large parties there and large blocks of rooms for delegations.”
“Someone is paying attention to the person who orders the $1,000 bottle of wine,” the lobbyist allegedly said.
Four attorneys, including two who teach at the nearby George Washington University Law School, signed the complaint, which lays out a panoply of a potential remedies ranging from Trump’s corporate divestiture to the president’s resignation. The document was posted on a website called www.endtrumphotelunfaircompetition.com but hasn’t yet appeared on the D.C. Superior Court’s electronic docket.
Complainants
One of the law professors behind the complaint, Steven Schooner, formerly worked within the U.S. Justice Department and served as an administrator for procurement law and legislation at the Office of Management and Budget’s office of Federal Procurement Policy, according to the school’s website.
Cork Wine Bar owner Khalid Pitts is also the president of USAction, a political group advocating for affordable health care, good paying jobs and “responsible budgeting,” according to its site.
The suit is the latest legal controversy concerning the 263-room hotel that opened last year within the city’s historic old post office following $212 million in renovations. In 2015, Trump sued celebrity chefs Jose Andres and Geoffrey Zakarian after they canceled plans to open restaurants at the site, citing disparaging remarks he made about Mexicans at his campaign kickoff. Those cases are each set for pre-trial conference in May.