By Zoe Tillman, From The National Law Journal

New complaint comes days after Trump sued chef and restaurateur José Andrés.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has filed a second lawsuit in Washington that accuses a celebrity chef of breaking a contract to open a restaurant in the new Trump hotel in downtown Washington.

The complaint against Geoffrey Zakarian comes days after Trump sued chef and restaurateur José Andrés over his decision to pull out of Trump’s hotel project. Zakarian, like Andrés, scrapped plans for a restaurant in the hotel in response to Trump’s controversial remarks about immigration.

In a complaint filed Monday in District of Columbia Superior Court, Trump said Zakarian breached the terms of their contract. Andrés and Zakarian’s restaurants had been advertised as major features of Trump’s renovation of D.C.’s Old Post Office building. The suit was filed against CZ-National LLC, the company formed for Zakarian’s D.C. restaurant, and BVS Acquisition Co. LLC.

Trump on July 31 filed breach of contract claims against Andrés, who criticized Trump over his comments about immigration, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Rebecca Woods of Seyfarth Shaw is representing the Trump entity serving as the plaintiff in both cases, Trump Old Post Office LLC.

In the Andrés complaint, Trump’s lawyers wrote:

The restaurant space that Mr. Andrés has suddenly abandoned is slated to be in the center of the hotel, adjacent to the lobby and a visual focal point for all the perimeter guest rooms that line the nine-story atrium. In addition to landlord’s obligation in the master lease to operate a ‘signature’ restaurant, it is indisputably harmful to open a luxury hotel without its planned restaurant, much less one undergoing construction as will now be required.

Andrés signed a 10-year lease, according to the complaint. A representative of Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup did not return messages seeking comment. In an earlier statement, according to press reports, ThinkFoodGroup called Trump’s suit “unsurprising and without merit.”

“The landlord allowed Mr. Trump to saddle us with the burden of his inflammatory statements, such that operating a high-end Spanish restaurant is no longer viable for us at this location,” the statement said.

Zakarian’s planned restaurant at the Trump hotel, The National, was going to be his first in Washington, according to a press release in May announcing his partnership with Trump. A spokesman for Zakarian was not immediately available for comment.

In a statement to Eater DC last month, Zakarian said he was pulling out of the project because “recent statements surrounding Mexican immigrants by Donald Trump do not in any way align with my personal core values.”

No hearings are scheduled yet in the Andrés case in federal court, which is before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. An initial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6 in Trump’s case in D.C. Superior Court against Zakarian before Judge Brian Holeman.

Happy Carlock contributed to this report.

Read Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Geoffrey Zakarian at link below

IMAGE: Geoffrey Zakarian. Credit: Luigi Novi via Wikimedia Commons

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202733848159/Trump-Sues-Celebrity-Chef-Geoffrey-Zakarian#ixzz3iEPU2vsG
Donald Trump pushes back after being disinvited from RedState gathering in Atlanta

By Ben Candea, Jessica Hopper and John Santucci From ABC News

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump clarified a comment he made about Fox News debate moderater Megyn Kelly that led him to be disinvited from a gathering of conservatives in Atlanta today.

Trump said he was referring to Kelly’s nose when he told CNN Friday that “there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” while speaking about questions she asked him during the first GOP debate Thursday. The comment led RedState’s Erick Erickson to withdraw Trump’s invitation from the event, which several other candidates were slated to attend.

“If you haven’t heard, I disinvited Donald Trump,” Erickson said as the second day of the event opened.

 

Republican Presidential Debate: Winners and Losers of the First GOP Showdown

Erickson said when he heard about Trump’s comment, he asked his campaign if Trump meant what was implied and whether he planned to clarify or apologize.

“It’s disrespectful to Megyn Kelly. It’s disrespectful to female journalists,” he said. “I don’t want my daughter in the room with Donald Trump.”

In a statement, Trump’s campaign called Erickson a “total loser” who “has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns.” His campaign said “only a deviant would think anything else” about Trump’s comment about Kelly.

“Mr. Trump made Megyn Kelly look really bad — she was a mess with her anger and totally caught off guard,” his campaign said. “Mr. Trump said “blood was coming out of her eyes and whatever” meaning nose, but wanted to move on to more important topics.”

Trump, who was leading in the polls going into the debate, told ABC News earlier Friday that he didn’t recognize some of the words Kelly used “whatsoever.”

“We’re going to look at that very carefully but I don’t recognize those words,” he said. “She came up with words that I didn’t recognize. so we’ll see what happens. We’re going to take a very serious look at it.”

Both Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Carly Fiorina criticized Trump’s comment.

For more on this story go to: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-disinvited-redstate-gathering-atlanta/story?id=32963178