Celebrity chef suggests charitable conclusion to Trump suit
José Andrés asks president-elect to end legal battle, donate money to veterans
Just two weeks before his inauguration in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump is set to be deposed in his ongoing legal battle with chef José Andrés.
The Spanish-born chef was originally slated to open a restaurant at the Trump International Hotel in the nation’s capital, but pulled out of the project before the hotel's opening following controversial comments made by the president-elect about Mexican immigrants while on the campaign trail.
In August 2015, Trump sued Andres' company ThinkFood Group for breach of contract, seeking $10 million. The chef has since countersued.
On Tuesday, Andrés proposed a new idea, tweeting directly at Trump to seek an amicable end to the ongoing squabble while also doing some good.
"Can we end our lawsuits and we donate $ to a Veterans NGO to celebrate?" the chef tweeted. "Why keep litigating? Let's both of us win.."
The tweet has since been liked over 400 times. As of Wednesday morning, Trump had not responded to Andres.
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In June, the president-elect was deposed in a similar lawsuit against Food Network star Geoffrey Zakarian. The Armenian-American chef had planned to open a restaurant, The National, at the Old Post Office building-turned-hotel in the nation's capital. Zakarian also pulled out of the project citing Trump’s comments about immigrants.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.