EATER by Daniela Galarza 5/11/2017
Lawyers for Donald Trump are trying to get one of the many lawsuits the president is facing dismissed. This past March, Cork Wine Bar in Washington, DC sued Trump and the Trump International Hotel, which is located around the corner from the White House. Their case centers around unfair competition: Owners Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts say their customers, “elected officials, nonprofits, foreign dignitaries, the World Bank, law firms,” are “being courted” to do business at Trump’s hotel “because they see it as advantageous to them to curry favor with the president,” according to the original filing.
Eric Trump — who along with his siblings now allegedly controls the day-to-day operations of Trump businesses — initially shrugged off the complaint and its plaintiffs, telling the Washington Post, “It’s people who have nothing better to do, so they harass and they harass and the [court] will throw it out… It’s ridiculous.”
The court has so far not thrown the suit out. In an effort to get the case dismissed Trump’s lawyers told a judge he has “absolute immunity” from this suit, according to Reuters. “Absolute immunity” is meant to protect presidents from “the distraction of virtually limitless litigation whose costs he would personally bear.”
The 20-page motion to dismiss says the president “cannot be forced to close or divest” from his business in the Trump hotel or “resign his office,” because, essentially, he is too busy running the country. Trump’s lawyers further argue that requiring the president to divest “could result in enormous personal financial loss for the President — likely much greater than compensatory damages — whether the injunction entailed a forced fire sale or a complete cessation of operations.”
In response, Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the plaintiff, told Reuters: "This lawsuit is against Donald J. Trump, not President Trump, and the cloak of immunity does not attach to his private, personal financial dealings.” This differentiation between a governing president and independent business owner might seem distinct were it not for the current and active related and obviously conflicting interests of Donald Trump.
More:
https://www.eater.com/2017/5/11/15623154/trump-dismiss-lawsuit-dc-wine-bar-absolute-immunity
