Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump sat for a sworn deposition on Thursday morning at Trump Tower, stemming from a case he filed over a prominent chef’s decision to back out of plans to open a restaurant in his new Washington, D.C. hotel. Lawyers for Jose Andres had as many as seven hours to grill Trump over the lawsuit, initiated after the restaurateur ditched the idea to start a Spanish-themed eatery after the then-candidate’s remarks about Mexican immigrants. A judge declined Trump’s request to cap the session at two hours, despite arguments that he’s working to finalize his Cabinet in the leadup to the Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump’s lawyer, Alan Garten, said Thursday that the deposition lasted just one hour. President Bill Clinton was the last commander in chief to be deposed—in Paula Jones’s sexual harassment suit in 1998. Prior to that, only Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Ulysses Grant faced depositions while in office. Trump is likely to face a string of other legal battles while in office, with several high-profile lawsuits still pending.
“In short, the parties entered into a valid and enforceable lease, which the tenant clearly breached by walking out and failing to perform its obligations, thereby entitling the landlord to recover damages in the form of unpaid rent, cost of build out, lost profits and other expenses,” Garten said in a statement.