Donald Trump is following through on his threat to sue Spanish chef Jose Andrés for backing out of a $10-million deal, according to a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia Friday morning.
The business magnate, whose ruffled more than few feathers since announcing a 2016 presidential run, accuses Andrés of breaching the agreed upon 10-year contract that would have created a 10,000-square-foot restaurant in Trump's Washington D.C. luxury hotel. All went according to plan until July, when Trump characterized all Mexicans as rapists and criminals, prompting Andrés to pull his co-owned ThinkFoodGroup from all Trump-affiliated endeavors.
The Trump Organization argues Andrés should have already known about the Republican presidential candidate's knack for making off-the-cuff remarks.
"Mr. Andrés offense is curious in light that Mr. Trump's publicly shared views on immigration have remained consistent for many years, and Mr. Trump's willingness to frankly share his opinions is widely known," reads the lawsuit, which claims the organization will suffer millions of dollars in damages.
On June 16, Trump told a Chicago crowd Mexico was sending "people that have lots of problems" to the United States. He staunchly stood by the comments over the following weeks, alienating business partners and potential Latino voters through the first month of his campaign.
For his part, Andrés alleged Trump's speech had breached the sublease and refused to present documents showing construction progress. Trump's lawsuit claims Andrés "demanded that Trump's personal opinions not be 'repeated, restated, or further disseminated," though it claims there are no provision granting Andrés the right to renege on their deal.
Andrés has yet to issue a public response to the lawsuit.
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